Opinion & Comment EU talks with the UK about

SECRET talks have begun between the UK and EU to prepare the way for a managed no-deal Brexit, sources in Brussels have claimed.

It is also understood that the World Trade Organisation has opened the door to a route for the EU and UK to continue trading on an interim basis in the event of no deal being reached by March 29.

The revelations come as leading pro-Brexit lawyers have warned that extending Article 50 would be a “blackmailer’s charter” for the EU.

Senior figures in Brussels have said that officials at UK Rep – the British embassy in Brussels – have been “putting out feelers” for extending Article 50, but “only to deliver a managed no-deal”.

The reports have been strongly denied by Downing Street which insists that the Government “is solely focused on delivering a deal”.

But it is also understood that the WTO has privately told Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman that his plan to use Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to have a near seamless managed no deal would work.

As long as both the UK and EU agree to invoke Article 24 as an interim arrangement ahead of working out a free trade agreement then the two can continue to trade on the same terms as they do now.

The proposal has been put forward in Cabinet by international trade secretary Liam Fox but questions were raised by Whitehall officials about the legality of doing it before the UK leaves.

But, according to WTO sources, the UK and EU could agree to invoke it at midnight on March 29 when Britain leaves, although Brexit is “unprecedented” in international law.

The decision would only become an issue if an objection was raised by another WTO member but they “would need to prove harm” to their own trading circumstances.

This means that if Britain and the EU simply trade on the same terms as before “it will be difficult to prove harm”.

Privately, Brexiteers have suggested that the EU could be given part of the £39 billion divorce bill as “a sweetener” to get them to agree to the Article 24 route, which Brussels has used previously to give extra time for new members such as the Czech Republic to join.

A source at the WTO said that the organisation does not want to make a public statement on the issue because it does not want to intervene in the complexities of the Brexit negotiation.

However, a spokesman said the WTO “hopes the outcome [of Brexit] will be the smoothest possible trading relations with all parties”.

Meanwhile, in a new report Lawyers for Britain has warned that extending Article 50 and delaying Brexit would be dangerous for Britain.

Martin Howe QC has said that in the event that Britain makes the request for an extension, “Spain is