EUROPE’S chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has called on the UK to actually “start negotiating” saying he’s “concerned” about how little progress David Davis has made.
Speaking as the third round of talks got under way, Barnier said there needed to be more openness and less ambiguity from the Tory Govern-ment’s negotiating team. He said: “We need you to take positions on all separation issues. This is necessary to make sufficient progress. We must start negotiating seriously.
“We need UK papers that are clear in order to have constructive neg- otiations. And the sooner we remove the ambiguity, the sooner we will be in a position to discuss the future rel- ationship and a transitional period.
“The EU27 and the European Parliament stand united – they will not accept that separation issues are not addressed properly.
“I am ready to intensify neg- otiations over the coming weeks in order to advance.”
Barnier added: “To be honest, I’m concerned, time passes quickly.”
In response, Davis said the UK was ready to “roll up its sleeves” to get a deal. He said: “For the United Kingdom, the week ahead is about driving forward the technical discussions across all the issues. We want to lock in the points where we agree, unpick the areas where we disagree, and make further progress on the whole range of issues.”
Davis said this will “require flexibility and imagination from both sides”, adding: “And we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get down to work once more.”
Davis was reportedly frustrated at Barnier’s insistence that progress must be made on settling the UK’s “divorce” before moving on to talks on future trade.
He believes a series of papers produced by his Department for Exiting the EU, shows that it is impossible to look at the UK’s debts, the border in Northern Ireland and the rights of EU citizens without also talking about trade.
Meanwhile, Brussels is said to be annoyed that the UK has yet to spell out how it thinks its liabilities to the EU should be calculated, let alone put a figure on the final bill, estimated to be anywhere between £50 billion and £80bn.
Before negotiations had started, Scottish Government Brexit Minister Michael Russell warned Davis not to come back with Brussels with no deal. “More and more people across business and in our communities are expressing their concern at the damage being done to our economy and public services,” Russell said. “This is no time for brinkmanship. By ruling out a ‘no deal’ outcome at least some of that damage can be limited.”
Russell’s comments followed his appearance at Alex Salmond’s final Fringe show, where he claimed UK Ministers were using Brexit and the Repeal Bill to unpick the foundations of the devolution settlement.
He agreed that the timing of the next independence referendum would would be determined by the outcome of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, groups representing EU nationals living in the UK have written to negotiators in Brussels warning the Home Office “cannot be trusted” following the bureaucratic error last week that saw 100 people sent letters telling them they faced deportation.
The letters were sent to people from European nations who have been in the UK for years, telling them that they were “a person liable to be detained under the Immigration Act” and that they should leave the country of their own accord, or the department would give police “directions for removal”.
Nicolas Hatton, the co-founder of the3million, said: “We talked to some of the EU citizens who received these letters and getting them was a terrifying experience for them. We have tightened up our policy over the summer and we have decided we have no option but to oppose the settled status on offer.
“We are saying settled status will put people under the direct rule of the Home Office and that would be fine if the Home Office could be trusted, but we have no confidence in the Home Office. It cannot be trusted.”
“The British Government has pretended for a long time that it cares about EU citizens. We are seeking guarantees for our lifetime, not one, two or five years.”
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