Prime Minister Johnson delivered a tough speech Sunday ahead of a crucial round of trade talks with the European Union on Britain’s exit from the European Union. He said Britain could walk away from the talks within weeks and insisted that a no-deal exit would be “a good outcome for Britain.
With negotiations at an impasse, Johnson said an agreement can only be reached if EU negotiators are prepared to “reconsider their current position.
The EU accused Britain of not being serious about negotiations.
On Jan. 31, Britain left the 27-nation European Union, which had ended more than 40 years of membership three and a half years earlier with a narrow referendum. On Dec. 31, the 11-month Brexit transition period ends and the U.K. will leave the EU’s single market and customs union.
If no deal is reached, the new year will bring tariffs and other economic hurdles for the U.K. and the EU, the bloc’s largest trading partner. Johnson said the U.K. would “prosper greatly” even if it had “a trade arrangement like Australia” with the EU.
Britain’s chief negotiator, David Frost, and his counterpart, Michel Barnier, will begin an eighth round of talks in London on Tuesday.
The key sticking points are the access of European vessels to British fishing waters and state aid to industry. The EU is determined to ensure a “level playing field” so British companies cannot weaken EU environmental or workplace standards or pump public money into British industry.
The U.K. accuses the EU of making demands that are not being imposed on other countries with which it has free trade agreements, such as Canada.
Frost told the Mail on Sunday that Britain “will not compromise on the fundamental principle of controlling our own laws.
He said, “We will not accept fair-play provisions that lock us into the way the EU does things.”
The EU said an agreement must be reached by November to allow time for parliamentary approval and legal review before the transition period expires.
Johnson gave an even shorter deadline, saying an agreement would need to be reached at an EU summit scheduled for Oct. 15.
He said, “If we don’t agree by then, then I don’t think we’re going to have a free trade agreement between us, and we should all just accept that and move on.”
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