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Michel Barnier

Michel Barnier

Michel Barnier postpones Brussels return as Brexit trade talks in London continue

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has delayed his return to Brussels and is expected to remain in the UK until Wednesday to carry on intensive discussions with his British counterpart Lord David Frost. Barnier originally arrived in London on Thursday to resume the stalled negotiations and had been expected to return on Sunday ahead […]

Michel Barnier

The harsh truths learned from halt in Brexit talks

Once anticipated as a key milestone on the road to an agreement, this month’s European Council and its aftermath have instead led to greater uncertainty about the prospects of a deal. The signs are not encouraging. With EU leaders standing firm, an expression of disappointment by the UK chief negotiator, Lord Frost, on Friday was […]

Michel Barnier

Brexit shambles: A stress of our own making

The latest phase of Brexit stumbles towards a predictably shambolic end. As with earlier episodes the familiar deluded posturing from the British government is part of the stumbling. After the EU summit, a deadline set by Boris Johnson for a trade deal, Number Ten proclaimed with the usual discordant swagger that the EU negotiators need […]

Michel Barnier

EU expects Boris Johnson’s team to return to talks ‘within days’

The EU expects the deadlocks over Brexit talks to last just a matter of days, with the expectation there will be a resumption next week. The Times says EU officials are briefing that a “time out” of no more than a week will give a “cooling off” period after the conclusions of the EU Council summit […]

Michel Barnier

Government tells Michel Barnier ‘no point’ in him coming to London for more Brexit talks

The UK has rebuffed Brussels’ offer of intensified trade talks next week, telling the European Union’s chief negotiator there is “no point” him coming to London on Monday. After Boris Johnson accused European leaders of having “abandoned the idea of a free trade deal” the UK’s chief negotiator, Lord Frost, spoke with his counterpart Michel Barnier […]

Michel Barnier

Boris Johnson’s manifesto was full of Brexit lies, suggests former MEP

A former Brexit Party MEP has suggested the Tory manifesto contained lies on Brexit – claiming there was not a “single accurate thing” in the section on leaving the EU. Ben Habib, an ex-Brexit Party politician who represented the seat of London in the European Parliament for six months before it was abolished in January this […]

Michel Barnier

Is Michel Barnier to blame for a no-deal Brexit?

This week we crossed yet another Brexit threshold: there are now fewer than 100 days left of the UK’s implementation period. Brexit is about to get real, and as it stands we will be in a no-deal situation in the middle of a coronavirus winter. There is still – just – time for the UK […]