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Britain accuses the EU of trying to string Brexit talks out until the November deadline

Boris Johnson 
Boris Johnson

Britain has accused the EU of wanting to string out Brexit trade talks until the November deadline for an agreement in the hope of making the UK cave in to its demands.

With the latest round of negotiations beginning on Tuesday, Boris Johnson wants to up the pace of the talks after making it clear that he will not extend the transition period and will not budge on sovereignty issues such as fishing rights.

Ministers are anxious to ensure that businesses have as much time as possible to prepare for whatever trading regime is in place when the UK’s current arrangements come to an end on December 31.

Their aim is to make significant progress before Mr Johnson holds a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, at which the Prime Minister will formally reject an offer of an extension.

But there are fears that EU leaders think that by running down the clock Britain will fold at the last minute. Mr Johnson has made clear he will not blink and is prepared to leave the EU without a trade deal if necessary.

A trade deal must be negotiated, translated and presented to the European Parliament by November 26 in order for it to be ratified by the end of the year.

The date coincides with MEPs’ penultimate plenary session of the year in Strasbourg, with the final one in mid-December coming too late to sign off any deal with the UK.

A UK source close to the negotiations said: “We expect next week's round to be constructive and keep the process on track. But then we are going to need things to move forward faster.

“We recognise the EU have other important issues on their plate too, as we all do, but they can't just mark time on these talks.

“The EU seems to have finally understood we aren't going to move on fundamentals, so they now need to think quickly about how they can find an agreement that reflects this reality."

Until now, the talks have been deadlocked over issues including fishing rights, with the EU insisting its members must maintain similar access to British waters as they currently do, and Mr Johnson stating baldly that it will be up to Britain who fishes in its waters from Jan 1.

Brexit negotiations | Read more
Brexit negotiations | Read more

British officials insist they have been trying to move the talks forward across the board, with EU leaders failing to engage and assuming they can simply turn their attention to it in the autumn.

Senior sources on the British side say that in the previous round of negotiations the EU would not discuss the proposals the UK had tabled, and instead continued to insist on its own unnegotiable positions.

The EU has made similar accusations against the UK; last month its chief negotiator Michel Barnier accused Britain of “slowing down discussions on important areas” and criticized the UK  for failing to “commit seriously” on fishing, level playing field guarantees  on tax, state aid, labour rights and the environment and the governance of the future trading relationship.

It is understood that a letter from the UK chief negotiator David Frost to Mr Barnier, sent on May 21, in which Mr Frost said he was “perplexed” by the EU’s refusal to offer Britain the sort of deal it had offered other countries, sounded the alarm bell for some EU members and made them realise just how risky it could be for the EU to continue marking time.

A senior government source said: “What is clear is that the conventional approach will not get us much further. The EU needs to inject some political reality into its approach, and appreciate that they cannot use their usual tactic of delay to drag the talks into the autumn.

“October is too late. Our businesses need to know whether there is going to be a trade agreement before then to prepare for the end of transition."