BORIS Johnson said today he was still “hopeful” of a Brexit deal being sealed but admitted the situation was “very difficult” and both teams were “a long way apart”.
The PM will dash to Brussels this week for face-to-face talks with EU boss Ursula Von Der Leyen after both sides admitted a deal couldn’t be reached at the moment.
The PM and EU chief held a tense phonecall last night – their second in 48 hours – where both sides admitted talks had reached “the end of the road”.
They are expected to meet on either Wednesday or Thursday in person – ahead of an EU summit on Thursday which could rubber stamp any agreement.
Asked whether he was hopeful of a Brexit deal, Boris Johnson told reporters at a London hospital on Tuesday: “I’m always hopeful… yes, I am very hopeful, but I’ve got to be honest with you I think the situation at the moment is very tricky.”
He said the EU had to understand that the UK had left to “exercise democratic control over the way we do things”.
He stressed: “We are a long way apart still.
“I will do my best to sort it out if we can.
But he promised that no matter what happened, there would be “great options ahead for our country” and people should know change is coming regardless of a deal.
He appeared to give another two days – until Wednesday as Michel Barnier has suggested – to try and get an agreement done.
Boris said: “We will see where we get to in the next two days- there are limits which no sensible independent country could go.”
It came as:
- Micheal Gove yesterday met with his counterpart in Brussels and offered to drop controversial parts of the Brexit laws if a deal was done – piling on pressure to seal an agreement
- But MPs voted to put the hated parts of the internal markets bill back in after a late night Commons vote
- The PM was speaking as he visited a hospital to see the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine today
But last night a UK Government source said “no tangible progress” had been made during the negotiations, which they described as “looking very tricky”, and said “this must now continue politically”.
Talks could still collapse and leave both sides with No Deal, they warned.
The two side’s senior negotiators were unable to forge a deal that was acceptable to Mr Johnson’s clear red lines and any hope of a breakthrough was now only at a leader’s level.
In a joint statement published after their telephone exchange, Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen said: “As agreed on Saturday, we took stock today of the ongoing negotiations.
“We agreed that the conditions for finalising an agreement are not there, due to the remaining significant differences on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries.
“We asked our chief negotiators and their teams to prepare an overview of the remaining differences to be discussed in a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days.”
Mr Barnier reportedly told MEPs the deadline for the talks succeeding is Wednesday, but Downing Street said it was prepared to continue talks for “as long as we have time available”.
Mr Johnson “cannot and will not accept the current terms” according to one insider as talks face the prospect of lasting another week.
“Anyone that thinks this is going to be some turn up and sign at that moment will be disappointed,” another gloomy official involved said.
The Daily Mail reports Mr Barnier had already ambushed the UK by re-tabling old demands for the UK to respect all laws the EU might pass in the future.
The move would effectively bind Britain to EU laws, under the threat of huge tariffs if they were broken.
The two sides are now expected to draw up a list of the remaining differences between them ahead of the PM travelling to Brussels.
Some close to Mr Johnson say a breakthrough could still be a week away given the differences between the two sides and he may not travel to the continent until the weekend.
