Our very last chance: ‘If we don’t stop treading water we will drown’
Brussels is given four more days to keep Brexit afloat
BORIS Johnson has given Brussels until Friday to make significant concessions – or face having the Brexit trade talks fold.
The warning came in a briefing from sources in Lord Frost’s negotiating team – as business secretary Alok Sharma told firms they need to step up preparations for leaving after transition, including the no-deal scenario.
In a briefing ahead of a crucial week of talks, sources in the UK negotiating team made it clear that the EU’S tactic of “treading water” and trying to “manipulate the process” means “time is extraordinarily short”.
Michel Barnier and the EU have been accused of “using the old playbook in which they thought running down the clock would work against the UK”.
As a result Brussels refused to negotiate on texts or to cover issues other than the level playing field and fisheries.
This meant agendas have been thinner and shorter than they needed to be.
Angry members of the British team say the tactics have simply taken negotiations to the middle of October – with lots of work that could have been done left undone, and no agreed draft legal texts to work from either. A source said: “We need an end to the attempts to manipulate process that the EU side have unsuccessfully used to try to generate tactical advantage in the negotiation. “It’s absurd the EU is using such obvious tactics to run down the clock. Ultimately we must stop treading water, otherwise we will simply drown.”
A survey of more than 2,700 Conservative members and supporters, with more than 50 per cent coming from former “red wall” areas, has shown strong support for the Prime Minister’s negotiating position. Around 85 per cent agreed the EU has not negotiated in good faith and 92 per cent reckon Mr Johnson was forced to bring in the controversial Internal Market Bill to protect the UK because of Brussels’ negotiating tactics.
A source close to Lord Frost claimed EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Brussels bureaucrats’ “negotiating misjudgments risk producing a crisis”.
They claimed the UK has been “working in good faith” on the basis of statements made by Mr Barnier at the end of July that mid-october was the last possible date for a deal.
The source said that the “real moment of truth will be in
October. That is when we will have to be ready to put a draft deal to the European Parliament and to the European Council [on Thursday/friday] if we want it ratified by the end of the year”.
As a result the Prime Minister was clear in his statement on September 7 that this is the UK deadline, too.
However, a UK negotiating source said: “It’s now looking that Michel Barnier won’t be able to get the 27 member states in the right place to make the necessary moves and show the flexibility needed in time for that date.”
The UK now expects the EU this week to ask for more time to get a trade and security deal sorted out but has warned that Brussels “will need to show creativity and flexibility this coming week” if there is to be any chance of them shifting positions sufficiently to meet the test in the PM’S deadline for an agreement to be in place by Thursday’s European Council meeting.
There have been positive signs in recent days, with the EU finally conceding the negotiations are between “sovereign equals” and there is no role for the European Court of Justice in the UK.
A Whitehall source noted that “a deal is our preference, but not any cost”. They said: “The EU’S ambitions of trying to keep oversight and control of UK laws in many areas have now, thankfully, come to an end. With the exception of fisheries, they are now negotiating on a more realistic basis.
“There’s lots still to do on the level playing field, but we have come a long way since the beginning of the year. We now need the EU to urgently up the pace, and we need to make progress in these coming days if the process is to stay a meaningful one.”
Meanwhile, Mr Sharma has warned that companies have just 81 days to put preparations in place for no deal being agreed.
In his letter, the Business Secretary has called on businesses to familiarise themselves with the actions they will need to take, by visiting gov.uk/transition and using the checker tool.
He said: “With just 81 days until the end of the transition period, businesses must act now to ensure they are ready for the UK’S new start come January.
“There is no time to waste. Businesses have a crucial role to play in ensuring a smooth transition, and we will be there to support them through this change.”
However, concerns have been raised by the Centre for Brexit Policy (CBP) that if Mr Johnson does get a deal with the EU, it will be worse than the trade deal Canada has with the bloc.
The think tank’s report highlights 12 areas where the UK comes out worse because of the
‘It’s absurd that the EU is trying to run down the clock’
Withdrawal Agreement signed in January.
John Longworth, directorgeneral of the CBP, the leading pro-brexit think tank, said: “They may be 3,000 miles from Europe, but Canada is much closer than us to having a deal respecting the independence of both parties.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, admitted in a telephone call yesterday that urgent progress is needed. A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister confirmed the UK’S commitment to exploring every avenue to reach an agreement.
“He underlined that a deal was better for both sides, but also that the UK was prepared to end the transition period on Australiastyle terms if an agreement could not be found.”