PM leaves threat of walking away from talks with the EU in the air. Following his call this evening with European Commission and European Council Presidents, his spokesman said the PM had noted the desirability of a deal, but /1
“expressed his disappointment that more progress had not been made over the past two weeks. The Prime Minister said that he looked forward to hearing the outcome of the European Council (this weeks EU leaders summit) /2
and would reflect before setting out the UK’s next steps in the light of his statement of 7 September.” That was the date when the PM said there was no point in talking all autumn and that a deal should be visible by mid October /3
His exact words on 7 Sept: “There needs to be an agreement with our European friends by the time of the European Council on 15 October if it’s going to be in force by the end of the year. So there is no sense in thinking about timelines that go beyond that point /4
If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on.” /5
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