Michel Barnier officially rips up October deadline for a Brexit deal – as Dominic Raab admits ‘still some significant issues to overcome’

MICHEL Barnier last night officially ripped up the wobbly October deadline for a Brexit deal, admitting nothing will be agreed until November.

Tense exit talks in Brussels will now run “continuously” until then to try and get a deal done as negotiations enter “the final phase.”

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab travelled to Brussels for talks yesterday with his EU counterpart and said afterwards: “I’m confident we can reach that agreement in October.”

But moments later the EU’s chief negotiator left the Brit stone-faced by saying any deal would be actually be done “not much later than November, certainly”.

Both sides widely believed the deadline of an October summit of EU leaders was under threat, but had not said so publicly until last night.

EU leaders are mulling an emergency Brexit summit for that month to sort the issue with time for the UK and European parliaments to approve the terms before exit day next March.

Mr Barnier said the pair would now “negotiate continuously” in order to avoid a no deal crash out next year without new trade terms in place.

The Frenchman also promised Britain a trade pact “that has no precedent” – in a boost for Britain who have long demanded a unique new relationship with the bloc.

But he warned the two sides are still far apart on the terms of future trade, with the PM’s Chequers deal “contradicting” the EU’s core positions.

Mr Raab admitted there were still “significant issues to overcome” including on the Irish border Meanwhile, the Brexit boss dismissed reports Britain will run out of food and medicine if we exit the bloc without a deal as “scare stories”.

Ahead of publication of a slew of No Deal contingency plans tomorrow Mr Raab added: “the responsible thing for any government to do and indeed on the EU side to do is to make sure that we’re prepared for all eventualities.”

Labour MP Stephen Doughty, leading member of the People’s Vote group that is campaigning for a referendum on the final deal, said yesterday’s meeting with Mr Barnier was proof the PM’s chances of getting a deal were “rapidly evaporating”.

He said: “Theresa May’s Brexit plan is so unsatisfactory and riddled with contradictions that the threat of a ‘no deal Brexit’ or a ‘blind Brexit’ is now rising by the day.”