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UK to offer emergency Brexit talks, with 'EU to blame' if trade deal collapses

A masked David Frost arriving for talks with Michel Barnier earlier this month - Reuters
A masked David Frost arriving for talks with Michel Barnier earlier this month - Reuters

Britain's chief Brexit negotiator will offer to hold an emergency round of talks next week as the UK tries to avoid blame for any failure to agree a trade deal.

Formal talks between David Frost and the EU's Michel Barnier in London will end on Thursday with neither side believing the current deadlock will be broken this week.

The Telegraph has revealed that the Government's working assumption is now that Britain will have no trade deal in place when the transition period ends on December 31, but Downing Street said on Wednesday that the talks were not yet at "breakdown".

Boris Johnson had set a deadline of the end of July for an outline agreement to be reached, and Mr Frost is expected to make himself available to continue one-to-one talks with Mr Barnier next week to ensure everything has been done to meet the target.

With neither side currently prepared to give ground on key issues including fishing rights and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, Number 10 wants to show that if the talks collapse it will be the EU's fault.

A source close to the negotiations said: "We wanted to get an agreement this month, but it's clear from the EU side that's not going to happen. That doesn't mean we will stop talking, though.

"If an agreement isn't reached this week, it's likely that David Frost will offer more face-to-face talks next week on an informal basis. Then we would expect there to be more talks in the third week of August."

Michel Barnier's holiday is expected to mean a hiatus in trade talks - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe
Michel Barnier's holiday is expected to mean a hiatus in trade talks - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe

Mr Barnier is expected to go on holiday for the first half of August, meaning there will be a hiatus in the negotiations for at least a fortnight.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We remain committed to working hard to find the outlines of a balanced agreement. Significant differences remain, and our preference is to leave with a free trade agreement – but we need to be prepared for all scenarios.

"We are neither at breakthrough nor breakdown."

On Tuesday, The Telegraph reported that ministers now believe the most likely scenario is Britain trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms once the current arrangements – effectively a continuation of Britain's membership of the single market – come to an end.

A deadline for extending the transition period has now passed, meaning it will end on December 31 regardless of whether a trade deal is reached.

The EU believes it has until October to thrash out a possible trade deal with Britain – but that would give the UK only a matter of weeks to prepare for a new trading regime.

The Government has already launched a public information campaign telling businesses to get ready now for an exit on WTO terms, which would involve the imposition of tariffs on some goods as well as customs checks.

Businesses are being told to "check, change, go", meaning they should check the current guidance on how rules will change on January 1 and change their practices in order to be ready to go at the start of next year.