Talks on securing a post-Brexit trade deal are set to continue over the weekend with both sides remaining coy over the prospect of an agreement being reached.
For many, the Brexit negotiations have had no end in sight with a number of comments from both sides suggesting that the on-again/off-again talks may end in a stalemate.
With the deadline fast approaching since future relationship talks begin in March this year, we take a look at some of Boris Johnson’s most memorable quotes from the Brexit process since he became PM in May 2019.
On his Brexit plans post election
"It does look as though this One Nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done." - 13 December 2019
READ MORE: Brexit: What is changing from January 1 2021?
On leaving on October 31st, 2019
“We are getting ready to come out on October the 31st…Do or die, come what may” - June 25, 2019
“I am confident of getting a deal. We will leave on 31 October in all circumstances. There will be no further pointless delay.” - September 3, 2019
On delaying Brexit
“I’d rather be dead in a ditch” - 5 September, 2019
On getting a deal
“We’ve got an oven-ready deal. We’ve just got to put it in at gas mark four, give it 20 minutes and Bob’s your uncle.” - November 3rd, 2019
On the Withdrawal Agreement
“The signing of the Withdrawal Agreement is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division.” - January 24, 2020
READ MORE: Brexit: Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen make 'substantial progress' in trade talks
On the Internal Market Bill
"What we cannot tolerate now is a situation where our EU counterparts seriously believe they have the power to break up our country.
"We cannot have a situation where the very boundaries of our country can be dictated to by a foreign power or international organisation." - September 14, 2020
READ MORE: Brexit: How European media reacted to Boris Johnson's bid to change the withdrawal agreement
On pausing trade talks
“The trade talks are over: the EU have effectively ended them by saying that they do not want to change their negotiating position. Only if the EU fundamentally changes its position, will it be worth talking.” - October 16, 2020
On Canada-style deal
“And from the outset we were totally clear that we wanted nothing more complicated than a Canada-style relationship, based on friendship and free trade.
“To judge by the latest EU summit in Brussels that won’t work for our EU partners. They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country.” October 16, 2020
On the prospect of no-deal
“And so with high hearts and complete confidence, we will prepare to embrace the alternative.
“And we will prosper mightily as an independent free-trading nation, controlling our own borders, our fisheries, and setting our own laws.” - October, 16, 2020
On Scotland and Brexit
"I believe Scotland along with the rest of the UK will benefit from a very strong relationship with our friends and partners across the Channel whatever the circumstances, whatever the terms we reach tonight." - December 9, 2020
On the EU’s current offer
“It was put to me that this was kind of a bit like twins, and the UK is one twin the EU is another, and if the EU decides to have a haircut then the UK is going to have a haircut or else face punishment. Or if the EU decides to buy an expensive handbag then the UK has to buy an expensive handbag too or else face tariffs,” - December 10
On no-deal Brexit
“I do think we need to be very, very clear. There is now a strong possibility – a strong possibility – that we will have a solution that is much more like an Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU.” - December 10, 2020
On fishing
“As for a present for Nicola, there is all sorts of things that will arise naturally from the UK getting a new relationship with our friends in the European Union. But one thing that may be of particular interest to the people of Scotland is they will become the proud possessors of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish, shellfish, crustaceans.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson says Nicola Sturgeon will get all the fish she can consume
“I don’t know whether Nicola is a keen fish eater but she will have more than she can possibly consume herself for a very, very long time to come. How about that?” December 16, 2020
On future negotiations
“Our door is open, we’ll keep talking, but I have to say things are looking difficult.
“There’s a gap that needs to be bridged, the UK has done a lot to try and help and we hope that our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves, because that’s really where we are.” December 18, 2020
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