LONDON (UK) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson will explain his approach to Brexit on Friday. This comes after his chief Brexit negotiator David Frost described the EU’s latest demands in trade negotiations as disappointing and surprising.
The country bid goodbye to the EU in January and the allies have been engaged in complex negotiations to strike a trade deal as the status-quo transition period comes to an end on Dec. 31.
The European bloc said on Thursday that Britain has to agree to a compromise to reach an agreement.
On Thursday, The Financial Times carried a report which said the prime minister would stress on quitting the bloc without a trade deal. It also cited allies as saying Boris Johnson was in no hurry and would take time to analyse the EU position.
“PM @BorisJohnson will set out UK reactions and approach tomorrow in the light of his statement of 7 September,” said David Frost, Britain’s Chief Brexit negotiator.
The prime minister had set an Oct. 15 deadline for a deal and had said on September 7 that in case an agreement was not reached, both sides should accept that and move on.
“Disappointed by the #EUCO conclusions on UK/EU negotiations,” Frost said on Twitter. “Surprised EU is no longer committed to working ‘intensively’ to reach a future partnership as agreed with (Ursula von der Leyen) @vonderleyen on 3 October.
“Also surprised by suggestion that to get an agreement all future moves must come from UK. It’s an unusual approach to conducting a negotiation.”