Deliver deal, Starmer urges as PM calls no deal “strong possibility”

Keir Starmer has said that the British public want to see the Prime Minister deliver on the “oven-ready” Brexit deal he promised during the last general election and focus on combatting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview this evening, the Labour leader stressed the importance of a deal shortly before Boris Johnson told Sky News that there is a “strong possibility” no free trade deal will be struck between the EU and the UK.

Commenting on the post-Brexit trade talks this evening and a deal between the UK its European neighbours, Starmer said: “It’s very important that there is a deal in terms of our trade with Europe, our relationship with Europe.

“And I think, you know, for most people a year on from the election they’re going to be scratching their head and saying look this is the Prime Minister who promised us a deal, he told us he’d actually got a deal – an oven-ready deal.

“And I think most people will be saying get on and deliver on that promise, because the truth is most people are very worried about the pandemic, about Covid, they want us to focus on that.

“They know that we’ve got the worst death toll in Europe, tragically, from Covid. They know that economically we’re one of the hardest hit countries of major economies.

“They will be saying to the Prime Minister, you promised you got a deal, get on and deliver it and let’s focus on the things that really matter to us most just at the moment.”

The UK has left the EU and the transition period is due to end on January 1st 2021, after which point all goods entering and leaving the country to and from the EU will be subject to new rules and processes not yet agreed.

Post-Brexit trade talks between the UK and the EU have been ongoing, with the main differences remaining being over fishing, governance and the ‘level playing field’. If an agreement is not reached, the UK will leave with no deal.

Negotiations on the trade agreement have continued in Brussels since Wednesday. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said this morning that the EU had prepared contingency plans for a no-deal scenario on January 1st.

The contingency measures have been described as a series of “mini deals” in the event that an overarching agreement is not secured including, for example, provisions to roll over the status quo on fishing for another 12 months.

Brussels warned earlier today that British airlines would be banned from flying to European destinations in the event of a no-deal Brexit, unless the Prime Minister agrees to EU ‘level playing field’ demands.

The Prime Minister told the public this evening that he would “keep going” and “go the extra mile” to try to strike a trade agreement with the EU but warned that British citizens and businesses should prepare for an Australian-style “option”.

He told those watching that the deal currently on the table “isn’t right for the UK”. “The UK has been incredibly flexible,” Johnson added in an interview given from Downing Street. “We tried very hard to make progress on all sorts of things.”

Johnson promised at the last general election to deliver an ‘oven-ready’ deal with the EU as part of his pledge to ‘get Brexit done’. The Prime Minister and the EU Commission president have now designated Sunday as the deadline for agreement.