13 December 2020 | UK NEWS
The Prime Minister has announced that the Brexit negotiations will continue this week, further delaying the end of the talks with the EU.
In a statement from the Prime Minister, in conjunction with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, they announced that they would be “going the extra mile”, saying that it was this was the “responsible” thing to do.
During a call between the two parties today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Ursula von der Leyen discussed the issues that are holding up the negotiations. Ms Von der Leyen called the call “constructive and useful”.
Following this call, the respective negotiating teams were told to continue their negotiations “to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached”.
Mr Johnson said that “the UK certainly won’t be walking away from the talks”.
Boris Johnson also wrote on Twitter that: “As things stand we are still very far apart on key issues. There’s still a deal to be done, but the most likely thing is that we’ve got to be ready for Australia terms on 1st January.”
David Jones, the deputy chairman of the European Research Group, reacted to the continuation of the talks on Twitter:
The UK is set to leave the transition period on 31st December on a no-deal premise, if the ongoing negotiations are not successful.
[…] It appears that the new realistic deadline for the conclusion of talks, with either outcome, will now be this Sunday. However, the same sentiment was expressed last weekend as well, though talks continued regardless. […]