David Frost, Britain’s chief
Brexit negotiator, has told
Boris Johnson that Michel Barnier is “losing the argument” in UK-EU trade talks but negotiations could end in no deal. Mr Frost briefed the Prime Minister that the EU must change its approach if there is to be any chance of sealing a free trade agreement before the deadline of the end of the year. But he warned that Mr Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, was straitjacketed by the EU’s refusal to change his negotiating mandate, which forced him to make unreasonable demands over fishing and the level playing field guarantees. Officials believe
Brussels is trying to force a halfway house compromise on
British red lines such as a continued role for the European Court of Justice in British affairs, the creation of a Norway-style fishing agreement or the UK’s right to regulate itself as it sees fit. British negotiators believe that no trade-offs on these fundamentals are possible, even if Mr Johnson was to intervene personally in the negotiations to try and break the deadlock. Relations plummeted to a new low as the last round of trade negotiations closed in mutual recrimination on Friday.