SUNDAY CRUNCH
■ WE’LL KNOW THIS WEEKEND IF IT’S GOING TO BE NO-DEAL BREXIT ■ THREE-HOUR DINNER SUMMIT IN BRUSSELS CAN’T CLOSE MAJOR GAPS
BORIS JOHNSON and EU president Ursula von der Leyen last night failed to break the Brexit deadlock during crunch talks over dinner – agreeing a ‘firm decision’ would be taken on Sunday instead.
The prime minister emerged from the three-hour meal in a private dining room at the EU’s Brussels HQ and was driven to catch a flight to London.
After the pair and their chief negotiators discussed the stalemate over scallops and steamed turbot, No.10 issued a downbeat statement.
It said they ‘had a frank discussion about significant obstacles which remain in the negotiations. Very large gaps remain between the two sides. It is still unclear if these can be bridged’.
It added: ‘The PM and Ms von der Leyen agreed to further discussions in the next few days between the negotiating teams.’
It said Mr Johnson did not want to leave any route to a deal untested.
But it said the leaders had agreed: ‘By Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks.’ Ms von
der Leyen’s announced minutes later it had been a ‘lively and interesting discussions on the state of play across the list of outstanding issues. We gained a clear understanding of each others’ positions’.
But she added: ‘They remain far apart. We agreed the teams should immediately reconvene to try and resolve these essential issues.
‘We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend.’
The dinner date had appeared to get off to a poor start earlier when Ms von der Leyen insisted Mr Johnson stay apart as they posed for photographs.
She told him: ‘Keep distance’. The PM replied: ‘You run a tight ship here, Ursula, and quite right too.’
The PM and his negotiator Lord Frost Ms von der Leyen and Michel Barnier then had a dinner of three courses, which included fish – despite the two sides’ major disagreement over fishing rights.
After pumpkin soup and scallops, they tucked into a main course of steamed turbot and mashed potatoes with wasabi and vegetables, then a dessert of pavlova with exotic fruit and coconut sorbet.
Before going to Brussels Mr Johnson had told MPs that a ‘good deal is still there to be done’.
Outstanding issues include fishing rights, ‘level playing field’ measures to stop the UK undercutting EU standards and state subsidies, and how any deal would be governed.
Earlier, Mr Johnson mixed optimism and pessimism as he told MPs a deal was still possible before December 31.
He said: ‘Our friends in the EU currently insist if they pass a new law in future with which we do not comply or don’t follow suit, they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate.
‘Secondly, they say the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don’t believe those are terms any prime minister of this country should accept.’
He said the UK would ‘prosper mightily’ with or without a deal – a claim disputed by experts including the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested his MPs would back a deal if Mr Johnson got one.
He said: ‘If there is a deal – and I hope there’s a deal – then my party will vote in the national interest, not on party political lines, as he is doing.’
Meanwhile, cabinet minister Michael Gove said the smooth export of British sausages and foods to Northern Ireland would continue from January after an agreement ‘in principle’ with the EU.
Its officials will be there to oversee border checks but would not have a permanent office.
The dinner came on the eve of a summit of the 27 EU leaders. But European Council president Charles Michel said they were not to discuss Brexit.