After months of coronavirus leading the news agenda, Brexit is back. The Prime Minister has overnight promised to quit the trade talks in five weeks if no agreement is in place. Meanwhile, figures in Brussels are voicing disbelief at reports the UK government is drawing up legislation that will override the withdrawal agreement’s Northern Ireland protocol.
Boris Johnson has said there needs to be an agreement by the European Council on 15 October – otherwise, it would not be possible to bring any such agreement into force before the end of the year and therefore little point in continuing discussions:
If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on.
He went on to say that should talks fail to lead to a deal, it would not be the end of the world.
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