Brexit trade talks going backwards: report

Expectations of reaching deal this weekend may not be fulfilled

Last updated: December 04, 2020 | 04:08

1 MIN READ

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier (2L), wearing a protective face covering to combat the spread of the coronavirus, walks back to a conference centre in central London on December 2, 2020 as talks continue on a trade deal between the EU and the UK.

AFP

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London: The trade talks between Britain and the European Union have gone backwards and the expectation that the bloc’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier would return to London over the weekend to seal a deal may not be fulfilled, Sky News said on Thursday.

“Despite intense negotiations over past 24 hours (fuelled by pizza and sandwiches) told by UK source that talks have gone backwards a bit today’,” Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby said on Twitter.

Rigby said an EU source said the expectation was Barnier would return to Brussels and then come back to UK over the weekend to close a deal, but the disagreements mean this may no longer happen.