Theresa May meets Angela Merkel in Berlin: German Chancellor says she’s not frustrated, just curious over UK’s position on Brexit

Angela Merkel has said she is “not frustrated at all, just curious” about the UK’s position over Brexit, following a “very candid” discussion with Theresa May.

The German Chancellor and British Prime Minister have just held a joint press conference following their bilateral meeting in Berlin today, which Merkel characterised as “a very constructive talk guided by a spirit of friendship and partnership”.

Merkel told reporters “we need to learn where we can find common ground”, adding: “We sometimes don’t know how our opposite number is seeing things.”

She insisted there was no “frustration”, despite tensions between the two sides clearly rising.

May promised there would be an update soon, saying: “We’ll be saying something in the coming weeks about our future economic partnership.”

Merkel added: “In the end the outcome needs to be a fair balance that deviates from Single Market and is not as close a relationship as we had, but I think we can find that.

“It will be different to what Britain has as a member, which is what the British people want, but this doesn’t mean that [a future trade policy] needs to be cherry picking.”

Asked what her biggest bone of contention was in negotiations, Merkel added: “There is not one single bone of contention. It is a very complex negotiation and needs a balanced approach on both sides.”