Boris Johnson set out red lines for the final days of the Brexit negotiations at a dinner in Brussels with Ursula von der Leyen – but made his case that a deal was still possible even as Europe prepared for the worst. Flanked by his chief negotiator and senior aides, the prime minister told the European commission president and the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, that he could not accept terms in a treaty that would tie Britain to EU rules. As he spelled out his position over a three-course meal lasting over two hours in the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, EU sources said the bloc planned to publish its no-deal contingency plans “very soon indeed” in order to keep planes flying and protect borders in the event of talks collapsing irretrievably.
Talks looked set to continue up to the weekend at least but EU governments put themselves on notice for a last-minute breakdown. Johnson, however, made it clear that he believed a compromise could be made. It came after EU leaders told their parliaments the negotiations were on the edge of failure. “At the moment we are on the precipice of a no-deal [Brexit],” Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, told the Irish parliament earlier in the day. Johnson had arrived at the commission’s headquarters just after 8pm local time, where he posed for pictures with Von der Leyen before retreating to a meeting room with their chief negotiators for a half-hour discussion. The two teams, joined by further officials, then sat down to a fish dinner. As Von der Leyen and Johnson met, the commission president warned him over the need to remain Covid-secure, telling him: “Keep [your] distance.” She added that the prime minister should remove his mask. “Then we have to put it back on,” she said. “You have to put it back on immediately.” “You run a tight ship here, Ursula, and quite right too,” Johnson responded. The 27 EU heads of state and government will meet on Thursday, when Von der Leyen is likely to update them on the talks. Sources said the leaders would not engage in a debate and did not intend to make any decisions on Brexit during the two-day summit. Talks are expected to resume on Thursday morning. EU capitals said they were looking for positive signs following the meal amid growing fears of an economic and security disaster when the Brexit transition period ends in three weeks’ time. In the Bundestag, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had said earlier in the day that her government was willing to let the negotiation collapse if Downing Street continued to reject the EU’s approach. “If there are conditions coming from the British side which we cannot accept, then we will go on our own way without an exit agreement,” she said. “Because one thing is certain: the integrity of the single market has to be maintained.” The main hurdle is seen by both sides as the EU’s demand for an “evolution” or “ratchet” clause to ensure that as one side upgrades its standards, the other is not able to enjoy a competitive advantage. Before flying to Brussels from RAF Northolt, Johnson told the Commons that the EU had tabled terms no British prime minister could accept. “Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in future with which we in this country do not comply or don’t follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate,” he said. “And secondly, they’re saying the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don’t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept.” The description of the EU’s negotiating demands was rejected in Brussels, raising hopes that Johnson was establishing a “straw man” argument to blow away in favour of a compromise that he can sell to his Brexiter backbenchers. “I don’t recognise that, it doesn’t ring a bell,” said one senior EU diplomat. “I don’t know what he is referring to, let’s put it that way.” Merkel told German parliamentarians that the EU, with the “evolution” clause, was merely seeking to manage the inevitable divergence in environmental, social and labour standards, which are currently shared. She said: “We currently more or less have the same legal system, a harmonised legal system, but over the years the legal systems will diverge regarding environment law, labour law, health legislation, everywhere. “For this we need to find agreements about how each side can react when the other changes their legal situation. Otherwise there will be unfair competition conditions, which we can’t do to our companies. This is the big, difficult issue which is still on the table, next to questions about fishing quotas and similar things.” The UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, has agreed to non-regression from a common baseline of standards at the end of the transition period. But EU negotiators want a forum for discussion when the current minimum standards become outdated owing to developments on one side. There would then be arbitration and the potential for one side to hit back with tariffs or other corrective measures if the other drags its feet on agreeing a new “level playing field” of minimum standards. Downing Street fears this will mean an alignment of standards via the back door.