Michel Barnier attempts to reassert his Brexit red lines

This morning a number of reports in the papers prompted talk of a small breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations. Among them, the Financial Times – a paper not known for always seeing the sunny side of the referendum result – reported that the mood in Brussels was changing with the EU now more willing to ‘fudge’ certain aspects of the negotiations in order to avoid no deal. With Theresa May en route to visit Emmanuel Macron at his holiday retreat tomorrow in the south of France, things appeared to be looking up for No 10.

So, perhaps it should come as little surprise that right on cue the rigid European Commission have popped up to pour cold water on any such claims. In an article that will be published in 20 newspapers around Europe, Barnier appears to rebuff recent efforts by Theresa May and her ministers to persuade individual EU leaders to back the Chequers proposal.