[1andrew1]

EU to plough ahead with UK trade talks despite Johnson rebuff

Brussels — and even some Tory MPs — remain convinced British prime minister will still do last-minute Brexit deal

The British, no matter what was said to them during the referendum campaign, need the European single market,” he [Emmanuel Macron] said after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday. “They are much more dependent on us than we are on them”.

That calculation underpinned a decision in Brussels to prepare for further talks in London despite Mr Johnson’s insistence that only a “fundamental” rethink of the EU’s demands could unblock negotiations...

Many Conservative MPs still believe Mr Johnson will strike a “five minutes to midnight” deal with the EU and the pressure on him to compromise with Brussels from business leaders and farmers will be intense as the clock ticks down to the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

Brussels believes that talks could continue until early to mid-November if needed even though it will dramatically squeeze the timetable for ratification.

Peter Mandelson, former EU trade commissioner, said: “There is now too little separating the two sides for either to afford a no-deal outcome. Of course Downing Street will inflate their language to put pressure on the EU. But my judgment is that Johnson is too weak politically to have the commotion of no-deal coming on top of the Covid mayhem.”

https://www.ft.com/content/97b4763f-...7-834c7bbad31f