Thread by @nickgutteridge

UK negotiator Frost is asked whether Oct 15 is really a hard deadline. 'Obviously as we approach the 15th I’ll have to advise the PM on whether the conditions in his statement have been met or not and we’ll have to consider the situation at that point.'

UK negotiator Frost: 'We’ve made quite good progress so far. This is a hugely wide ranging agreement and in many areas the landing zone and the nature of the agreement is pretty clear if not exactly pinned down yet.'

Micheal Gove on EU legal action over the Internal Market Bill: 'We entirely understand the reasons why the EU feel this is an appropriate course of action for them but without prejudicing that...we feel that progress can be made through the joint committee.'

Michael Gove adds talks are 'proceeding in a way which gives us cause for steady optimism' and 'there have been clear signs that since the approval of the [Internal Market] bill in the House of Commons the talks have been proceeding in a constructive way.'

Frost also said the UK's 'door will never be closed' and even if the trade talks fail there will be 'lots of practical matters to cover' in talks between now and January 1. 'In any circumstances I’d expect that to be happening', he says. The return of managed no deal?

Michael Gove says the EU has 'recognised' that exit summary declarations for firms sending goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain 'are not strictly necessary for the safety and integrity of the Single Market'.

Gove is asked if the Government will remove the controversial clauses from the Internal Market Bill if the need for them is overridden by a trade deal. 'We’ll wait and see what happens in the negotiations', he replies. The implication in that seems pretty clear.

Frost: 'After a long period in which we’ve been making little progress on subsidy policy we are having somewhat more constructive discussions on that subject, although unfortunately the gap between us is still pretty wide and a lot of work has to be done.'

Frost adds: 'We're beginning a discussion is it possible to go further normal in an FTA and agree some provisions that shape and condition subsidy policy on both sides'. Says this will be 'high level principles' not 'extensive text setting out detail of how we design our system'.

Frost acknowledges the UK would benefit from strong dispute settlement measures on state aid. 'I can quite see us being ready to use them just as much as the EU in future. Other EU countries subsidise quite often more than we do and that could definitely have impact on us.'

Frost says the 'remaining negotiation' on LPF/common standards 'is about whether that baseline could move in future'. Says the EU is being 'a bit overambitious' about how the deal may work and 'we're a bit skeptical about that because it’s not in the Political Declaration'.

Gove adds some people see the EU as 'Plato’s guardians - disinterested upholders of virtue and whatever they decree is right and other countries are potential rogues that need to be brought back online.' He says UK has a 'very favourable' record compared to EU on climate change.

Frost says there has been 'good progress in the last 2-3 weeks' on security cooperation and 'we’re moving forward reasonably well'. He says the EU had previously adopted the 'mentality of competition from the economic bits' in this area 'where it makes no sense'.

On security cooperation, Frost also sounds more upbeat on the stand-off over UK application of the ECHR. He says: 'We’re beginning to untangle the various threads that discussion tangled up earlier and I think I can see a way forward on that that satisfies all sides’ needs.'

Gove: 'The automotive sector, because of the tariffs that might apply, will in the event of failure to secure an FTA require additional focus on the part of Government to support. I don’t think we’re blind or blasé about that. We're absolutely focussed on securing an FTA.'

Michael Gove insists the Internal Market Bill was only introduced as 'a safety net, not because we sought to influence the negotiations through it'. He says 'it’s important to draw that distinction'. Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney called it a negotiating ploy earlier.

And with that a very interesting - dare I say even enjoyable - @LordsEUCom hearing is done. Nice range and depth of questions, and Frost and Gove were on good form. The main takeaway to me was that both of them are very much in deal mode re their respective negotiating strands.