Brexit trade talks to restart after both sides promise concessions

EU trade negotiators will return to London on Thursday to restart Brexit trade talks, after both sides promised to work “intensively” for a deal.

Downing Street had previously told chief negotiator Michel Barnier there was “no point” in him coming to the UK unless the EU fundamentally shifted its position.

But following a telephone conversation between the EU chief negotiator and his UK counterpart Lord Frost, a Downing Street spokesperson said the UK was ready to try and “bridge” remaining divides and would welcome Mr Barnier’s team to London.

Mr Barnier had earlier on Wednesday told the European Parliament that a deal was “within reach” if both sides were ready to make compromises.

“Lord Frost discussed the implications of this statement and the state of play with Mr Barnier earlier today,” the No 10 spokesperson told reporters.

“On the basis of that conversation we are ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations later this week. We have jointly agreed a set of principles for handling this intensified phase of talks.”

They added that Mr Barnier had “acknowledged the UK’s established red lines” and that the British side was “ready, with the EU, to see if it is possible to bridge them in intensive talks”.

Lord Frost said that “intensive talks” would “happen every day” and begin in the afternoon on Thursday 22 October in London.

A new set of “organising principles” for talks agreed by both sides says both parties have “agreed to intensify negotiations” and that discussions will take place across all subjects simultaneously – a key demand of the UK side.

Both sides will work on their own legal texts and try to find “areas of convergence” until they have a consolidated text on which they both agree, the new principles say.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said there was “hard work needed” and “no time to lose”.

Negotiating teams have been stood down since Friday after EU leaders embarrassed Mr Johnson at a summit by saying any deal depended on the UK alone making moves. Downing Street dropped out of talks and said the EU had effectively ended them by putting the emphasis on the UK.

Mr Barnier, who had wanted to travel to London on Monday for more negotiations, has spent the last half week trying to smooth over the row – speaking on the phone to his counterpart Lord Frost on a daily basis.

While he was rebuffed on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, the Wednesday conversation finally bore fruit. The pair were speaking after Mr Barnier made an intervention in the European parliament in which he told MEPs that “it takes two to make a deal”.

“We will seek the necessary compromises on both sides in order to do our utmost to reach an agreement and we will do so right up until the last day which it’s possible to do so,” the chief negotiator said.

“Our doors will always remain open right up until the very end.”

He added: “Despite the difficulties we’ve faced, an agreement is within reach if both sides are willing to work constructively, if they are willing to compromise.”

But he warned: “Time is running out each and every day.”

The trade talks have been at an impasse for months over issues including fishing access and state aid rules, as well as how any deal might be governed.

If no trade deal is agreed with the EU and implemented before the end of the year, the UK will leave the single market and customs union and begin to trade on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms.

UK businesses would have to pay high tariffs on goods and abide by restrictive quotas, which would cause serious economic disruption in both the short and long term. The arrangement is a default state of affairs and does not require the agreement of either side.