Barnier: Deal will be like Canada’s but get ready for negotiations lasting years

MICHEL Barnier risked worsening tensions in the Brexit negotiations yesterday by claiming a trade deal will take years to complete.

The EU’s chief negotiator said the wrangle over the future relationship between Britain and the bloc will drag on for years after the official Brexit date in March 2019.

He also forecast the eventual deal will be similar to the agreement between Canada and the EU. His remarks, at odds with Theresa May’s insistence that a trade deal can be secured before the departure date, raises the prospect of the UK formally outside the EU but tied to Brussels indefinitely.

He spoke out after Mrs May told MPs earlier this week there could be no transition period after Britain leaves the EU unless there was agreement on a trade deal.

In a Commons statement, the Prime Minister said she remained confident that a deal was possible following the latest EU summit last week in Brussels. In an interview with France’s Les Echos newspaper, Mr Barnier said agreement on a time-limited transition period after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019 should be possible.

But he said the negotiations about the future relationship between the EU and the UK would continue to be “difficult”. He said agreeing on the future relationship would take time and “will last for several years”.

A Number 10 spokesman said the Government believed it could agree a trade deal with the EU quickly.