UK holds out for EU concessions to restart Brexit talks

LONDON - The UK has rebuffed the European Union's effort to restart their deadlocked trade negotiations, holding out for more concessions from the bloc before it is prepared to restart talks.

On Monday, Michel Barnier, the bloc's chief negotiator, said he would be willing to intensify talks and begin work on the legal text of the accord after a meeting with his British counterpart, David Frost.

While that went some way to meeting two of the UK's key demands, it wasn't enough for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to restart the talks he suspended on Friday, saying that a trade deal was unlikely. Without one, consumers and businesses will face the cost and disruption of tariffs and quotas in just 10 weeks' time.

"The EU still needs to make a fundamental change in approach to the talks, and make clear it has done so," Frost said in a tweet.

Johnson's office still described the discussion as "constructive"- a view echoed by officials in Brussels, who said they have a better understanding of what they have to do to make it look like the UK has won something.

EU officials are paying particular attention to Frost's comment that the bloc "needs to make clear" it has moved. That could mean an EU leader, or senior official, giving a public statement to make it look like the bloc is conceding, drafting new texts, or emphasising that the two sides are sovereign equals, they said.

Three Brussels officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak publicly, said they expect the negotiations to resume in London by the end of the week.