The announcement that @vonderleyen and @BorisJohnson will be speaking tomorrow afternoon "to take stock of negotiations" carries a weighty implication - namely that the EU wants to test whether the prime minister actually wants a free trade agreement and is prepared to...

negotiate in what EU leaders regard as "good faith". There is much suspicion, fuelled by the PM& #39;s decision to legislate to break the Withdrawal Agreement he signed, that the UK is talking only so as to find a way of blaming the EU for the absence of a deal, rather than...

because it actually wants a deal. As the former UK ambassador to the EU Ivan Rogers has said, the big sticking point still remains the UK& #39;s refusal to give legally binding commitments not to "unfairly" subsidise UK businesses, so-called state aid rules. But for the avoidance,...

of doubt and possibly to the annoyance of the UK& #39;s negotiator @DavidGHFrost, the @MichelBarnier and the EU negotiating side have taken a principled decision to just keep talking, and never stomp out. The EU does not want to be seen to terminating the talks. It is reserving...

that dubious privilege for @BorisJohnson.