EU leaders could green-light trade talks next week as deadlock starts to shift — but Theresa May must make further progress on the divorce bill
The small breakthrough comes after Brexit Secretary Davis Davis said talks were at a 'disturbing deadlock'
EU LEADERS will next week green-light preparations of post–Brexit trade talks with Britain in the first sign of a concession from Brussels.
Draft guidelines for a crunch gathering of the 28 strong EU Council next Thursday reveal they plan to at last allow Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to get ready for discussions on a future trade deal and a transition agreement.
But they insisted Theresa May will have to make further progress on the divorce bill and future citizens rights for any actual trade negotiations to begin - pencilled in for December, two months later than planned.
The minor breakthrough - which The Sun revealed EU leaders were planning two weeks ago - came at end of another day of Brexit stalemate at the end of the fifth round of face to face talks.
Top Tories last night demanded Mrs May walk out of the Brexit talks after Brussels sent the Pound tumbling with warnings of a “disturbing deadlock.” Britain’s Brexit chief David Davis and his counterpart Mr Barnier blamed the rigid rules set by Germany and other EU heavyweights as official negotiations hit a fresh low.
It ended any chance trade talks being given the nod to start next week as planned.
But both men blamed the strict guidelines set by the EU27 leaders in July over how the EU’s chief negotiator can work.
Mr Barnier hinted a breakthrough can only come with “political will” from Berlin and other big players to relax the rules.
Germany and France with Romania are resisting calls from the other EU states to bend - but Mr Barnier said “with political will, decisive progress is within our grasp in the next two months."
Despite big offers from the UK on the rights of EU citizens to live in Britain in the future, Mr Barnier was forced to admit his hands were tied from responding by rules set out by the EU Council.
But he insisted “slowly but surely over the next few weeks I will explore the way forward.” The draft resolutions for next week's Council meeting circulated amongst EU nations last night showed the first loosening of those rules.
They will allow Mr Barnier "to start internal preparatory discussions" over the EU's future relationship with Britain.
But Brexiteers still rounded on Brussels yesterday, with Boris Johnson claiming it was the EU’s turn to make concessions after “we made some very good suggestions to get the ship moving and down the slipway.”
The Foreign Secretary added: “we need to get some tiger in the tank and get this thing done.”
Former Brexit Minister David Jones accused the EU dragging their feet “because they think they can break our hearts.”
And he demanded the PM pull the plug on the process, adding: “They should understand that we can be stubborn, too.
“We should now tell the EU that we are suspending talks until they are ready to discuss a future free trade agreement.”
The challenge came as business chiefs warned that any further delay was a “lose lose scenario” for both the UK and EU.
Adam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce said: “I want to urge the UK and the EU27 to strain every sinew to move ahead, and put trade and transition at the heart of negotiations by the end of 2017.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond on Wednesday warned Brussels that any remaining goodwill towards the EU in Britain will run out unless talks get moving.
And the CBI added: “Both sides must show the leadership and determination to get the talks moving more quickly because jobs and investment across Europe depend upon it."
Last night a senior Government source said it was now “in the hands” of other EU nations to break the stalemate.
They told The Sun: “If there is a deadlock, it has happened because of the process they have adopted - which we warned them wouldn't work. They can help fix the process next week by loosening Barnier's reins.”
- THERESA MAY's flagship Brexit Bill has been put on hold - because of a Tory rebellion, it has been claimed.
The EU Withdrawal Bill - formally cutting and pasting EU rules into UK law - was due to be scrutinised by MPs.
A total of 300 amendments and 54 new clauses have been tabled to amend the legislation. Some 13 have enough support from Tory MPs such as former Attorney General Dominic Grieve to defeat the Government.
One of the biggest flash points is so-called "Henry VIII" powers which would give Ministers the right to change laws as they're repatriated without full Parliamentary scrutiny to ensure it be done in time for March 2019.
