What the papers say: The time for a Brexit transition is running out

Is the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier actually serious about doing his job, wonders the Sun. In its editorial, the paper says that yesterday ‘yet another round’ of talks went by with hardly any progress. Once again, Barnier used the lack of any substance to complain. But the Sun is questioning whether this is all part of the plan: ‘The suspicion grows daily that Mr Barnier is hoping…to lengthen the impasse’, and that by doing so he’ll force the government to back down – or hold out for a second referendum to put paid to Brexit for good. This approach shows a ‘contemptible disregard’ for British voters who backed Brexit, argues the Sun. Yet Barnier isn’t the only one to blame here. The Sun also points the finger at Labour, suggesting that the EU’s position ‘may have been strengthened by Labour’s latest flip-flop on Brexit,’. Labour’s U-turn – to propose that Britain should stay in the single market for another four years – ‘smacks of rank short-term opportunism’.