Brexit: UK ‘won’t hang around’ for a trade deal
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has warned the EU that the UK will not wait around for a post-Brexit trade deal and that negotiators are prepared to walk away from talks.
Raab told LBC that the UK does not “want to hang around” and will not “wait for this to be dragged out into the autumn and the winter”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chiefs met on Monday to discuss the state of negotiations, with both sides agreeing that “more momentum was needed”.
Particularly contentious areas have been EU access to UK fishing waters, business competition regulations and the European Court of Justice’s role in governing a deal.
UK and EU negotiators will meet for a series of five consecutive week-long negotiating rounds beginning next month.
The UK has said it needs to know before the end of summer if a deal is possible, and will walk away in August and prepare for no-deal if need be.
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Raab reiterated this position this morning, urging the EU to inject more urgency into talks.
“We’ve agreed on both sides to energise and intensify the talks, we don’t want to hang around, we’re not going to wait for this to be dragged out into the autumn and the winter,” he said.
However, a leaked document from the German government, and seen by Reuters, reveals that Berlin expects negotiations to drag on longer.
The leaked document read: “From September, the negotiations enter a hot phase.
“Britain is already escalating threats in Brussels, wants to settle as much as possible in the shortest possible time and hopes to achieve last-minute success in the negotiations.”
It comes as EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier slammed the UK for trying to reopen talks on regional food specification laws.
The UK agreed in last year’s Brexit withdrawal agreement to protect thousands of registered European food names – such as feta and champagne – from local imitations.
Barnier told the European Parliament yesterday that the UK “has even wanted to reopen the whole question” of food specification laws and that this was “not compatible” with a stable future relationship.