Boris Johnson’s dinner with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen – aimed at breaking the Brexit trade deadlock – has ended without agreement.
Mrs von der Leyen said the two sides were still “far apart”, while Downing Street said “very large gaps remain”. Talks between the UK’s chief negotiator Lord Frost and the EU’s Michel Barnier will resume in Brussels later.
But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was “unlikely” the negotiations would be extended beyond Sunday. After their meeting, the prime minister and European Commission president “agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks”, a No 10 spokesperson added.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said the evening had “plainly gone badly” and the chances of the UK leaving the post-Brexit transition period at the end of the year without a firm arrangement was a “big step closer”.
