Boris Johnson last night failed to secure Brexit concessions from the EU after a face-to-face dinner in Brussels, aiming to break the current deadlock and avoid no deal, concluded with no agreement.
The prime minister flew home from the Belgian capital with little to show on Wednesday night, despite hopes he could use the last-bid opportunity to grease the wheels for a trade deal ahead of an EU leaders’ summit, beginning on Thursday.
Negotiating teams will now go back to the drawing board in the coming days, with Downing Street confirming it was “still unclear” whether “very large gaps” between the two sides could be bridged.
A new deadline of Sunday has been set, by which time the prime minister and EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed that “a firm decision” must be made on whether trade talks are in fact going to get anywhere before the 31 December Brexit deal timeline.
Should the decision be made that talks are at an indefinite standstill, negotiators will have to begin making serious preparations for a no deal resolution.