‘EU has to move’: Gove warns of very difficult Brexit deal as PM travels to Brussels
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has warned that a post-Brexit trade deal might be impossible unless the EU budges on its demands, but claimed Tuesday’s Northern Ireland agreement makes it more likely that it will be done.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Gove told Times Radio that the chances of an UK-EU trade deal depended on the willingness of Brussels to make concessions.
Unless we see some movement from the EU side, then it will be very difficult…The EU has to move.
Gove said he hoped they would be getting the “movement” that the UK needs as Prime Minister Boris Johnson travels to Brussels for eleventh hour talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Gove, who has been heavily involved in negotiations, also said Tuesday’s agreement with the EU over the fate of Northern Ireland had increased the chances of getting a trade deal done.
“That means there is a smoother glidepath to a possible deal,” he said.
The minister, who in October suggested a deal was 66 percent likely, refused to give any new forecast.
Also on rt.com UK to drop Internal Market Bill clauses after agreeing with EU ‘in principle on all issues in Withdrawal Agreement’On Tuesday, the UK agreed to drop the controversial clauses within the Internal Market Bill which contravened international law following an agreement with the EU on post-Brexit protocol in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The move was considered a positive step but the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, also speaking on Tuesday, warned that the chances of getting a trade deal done were “very slim.”
The UK’s current trading relationship with the EU comes to an end on December 31, four years after the British people voted to leave the European bloc.
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