Theresa May’s former chief of staff Lord Gavin Barwell has criticised the current Government for its behaviour over the controversial Internal Market Bill amid Brexit talks.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Barwell stated that the controversial bill ultimately made negotiations regarding the future role of the European Court of Justice “much more difficult than it would otherwise have been”.
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He said: “I completely understand why the Government is determined to avoid the jurisdiction of the European court, but on the other side, the way the Government has behaved over the Internal Market Bill has clearly strengthened the view on the European side that they need to make sure there’s a robust process there where they can retaliate if the UK doesn’t stand by the commitments that it made.
“I think it was a real mistake of the Government to go down that road.”
Speaking on the prospect of a deal, he said he believes a deal on a post-Brexit trade agreement is “definitely still possible”, although it will rely on whether or not both sides are “prepared to make the compromises necessary”.
Lord Barwell told BBC Breakfast: “Both sides are going to have to compromise if we’re going to get a deal from this situation.”
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"We are now 25 days from the end of the transition period and business, both in the UK and in Europe, have no idea on what terms they’re going to be able to trade with their nearest market from January 1.
“That is a pretty shocking failure.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice has said the talks on a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU are in a “very difficult position”.
As talks were resuming in Brussels, Mr Eustice accused the EU of introducing “a whole load of additional demands” late in the negotiations.
“It is in a very difficult position – there is no point denying that,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme.
“There was some hope early last week, some progress was being made, and at one point it looked like there might be a breakthrough but then the European Union added a whole load of additional demands after that which caused some problems.
“We will continue to work on these negotiations until there is no point doing so any further but there is no point denying that what happened late last week was a setback.”
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