EU's top negotiator says there MUST be a Brexit deal by October 2018 and warns the terms will be WORSE than we have now

The EU's prime negotiator upped the strain on Theresa Could immediately by warning Brexit deal have to be performed by October 2018.

Michel Barnier additionally insisted the UK won't be allowed to 'cherry decide' one of the best components of membership - saying the brand new phrases can be 'worse' and there can be no compromise on free motion guidelines inside the single market.

The robust message got here because the Frenchman, appointed by EU fee president Jean-Claude Juncker to spearhead the looming talks - gave his first press convention on the difficulty.

However the Prime Minister delivered a defiant riposte, saying she would safe a 'pink white and blue' Brexit. 

Michel Barnier has been appointed by EU fee president Jean-Claude Juncker to spearhead the looming Brexit talks

There was a dramatic ramping up of the rhetoric as the 2 sides draw battle strains. 

The Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloemlaunch a livid assault on the UK authorities's 'perspective' this morning - warning that negotiations are shaping as much as be bitter and damaging.

However arriving in Brussels immediately Chancellor Philip tried to ease tensions, stressing it was in 'everybody's pursuits' to have a 'clean' separation with the EU. 

Mr Barnier gave the clearest image but of his timetable for the method of leaving by saying a deal wanted to be performed by October 2018.

Mrs Could's plan to set off Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March subsequent yr would probably see us give up the bloc by March 2019. 

However Mr Barnier stated the time in between could be wanted to move an settlement by the European parliament and international locations' legislatures.

He additionally careworn that there can be no substantive negotiations till after Article 50 is invoked. 

'Being a member of the European Union comes with rights and advantages. Third international locations can by no means have the identical rights and advantages since they don't seem to be topic to the identical obligations,' Mr Barnier stated.

The Prime Minister (pictured addressing service personnel on HMS Ocean in Bahrain immediately) invoked the colors of the union flag as she rejected criticism of her EU technique

Theresa Could, pictured with Bahrain Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, has quickly escaped from the raging Brexit debate on a visit to the Gulf

'The only market and its 4 freedoms are indivisible. Cherry-picking just isn't an possibility.'

Regardless of earlier options that he would insist on French being the language of the Article 50 talks, Mr Barnier spoke in each English and French on the Brussels press convention.

He stated he was aiming for an 'orderly' Brexit, however stated it was 'too quickly' to debate the small print of how it might occur.

'We're coming into uncharted waters,' stated the French former overseas minister.

'The work can be legally advanced, politically delicate and may have vital penalties for our economies and for our folks, on either side of the Channel.'

Mr Barnier refused to rule out the return of a tough border between the Republic of Eire and the UK after Brexit.

He stated he was decided that the Brexit negotiations would 'discover a method' to protect the success of the Good Friday peace settlement.

However requested if he would decide to retaining the widespread journey space and rule out a tough border between Eire - a member state - and the UK as soon as it's exterior the bloc, he stated Brexit would have implications for the EU's frontiers.

Mr Barnier, who performed a number one function within the EU's assist of the Good Friday course of, stated: 'The UK's choice to depart the European Union may have penalties. Specifically, maybe, for what are the EU's exterior borders immediately.

'All I can say at this second in time is that I'm personally extraordinarily conscious of the significance of this explicit matter.'

Talking in Barhain immediately, Mrs Could made clear that her intention to start the Brexit course of by March nonetheless stood.

And she or he dismissed the concept that ministers have been attempting to resolve whether or not to go for a 'exhausting' or 'gentle' departure from the bloc.

The battle is continuous within the Supreme Court docket immediately over whether or not Mrs Could wants parliamentary approval to set off Article 50

'It's a couple of pink, white and blue Brexit,' she stated. 'That's the proper Brexit, the best deal for Britain.'

The intervention follows Downing Avenue's jibe at Labour and Lib Dem critics yesterday of not being on 'staff UK'.

Earlier, Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem advised reporters that the method was already on the incorrect observe. 

'It may be clean and it may be orderly however I feel it requires a special perspective on the a part of the British authorities as a result of the issues that I have been listening to to date are incompatible with clean, incompatible with orderly,' Mr Dijsselbloem, who can be finance minister of the Netherlands, stated.

'If the UK needs to have full entry to the interior market then it must settle for the foundations and rules that go together with that inner market.'

Requested whether or not Britain was searching for to 'have its cake and eat it', Mr Dijsselbloem responded: 'I used to be going to avoid that cliche, however you're completely proper.'

Mr Hammond stated: 'I feel that is in everybody's pursuits, on either side of the English channel, to have as clean a course of as doable, that minimises the risk to European monetary stability and minimises the disruption to the very many advanced relationships that exist between European manufacturing companies and their financing banks and so forth in London.' 

Mrs Could chatted fortunately to personnel on HMS Ocean as she continued her go to to the Gulf

A Downing Avenue spokesman stated: 'Now we have set out our place repeatedly. We'll set off Article 50 no later than the top of March subsequent yr.

'There's a two yr timeframe on that course of. Now we have been clear we're not searching for to increase that course of.

'By way of how lengthy the precise negotiations happen, clearly that could be a matter that may resolve itself because of the negotiations.

'It could be incorrect of me to place a timetable on it.'

He added: 'The European negotiation staff and their strategy to the negotiations between the UK and the opposite 27 member states is clearly a matter for them.

'Now we have been clear on our timetable and we'd not transfer away from it.'

The spokesman stated it was extra vital to get the 'finest deal' than do the deal in 18 or 24 months.

He wouldn't be drawn on whether or not Mr Barnier's feedback ended the prospect of a transitional deal.

Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, stated: 'Mr Barnier's newest contribution is of simply the kind calculated to boost the political temperature at a time when he must be reducing it. He ought to have the financial wellbeing of Europe and its residents as his overriding goal, not grandstanding to Brussels.

'Either side within the negotiations can achieve collectively or lose collectively. So his first precedence must be serious about learn how to re-establish an in depth financial relationship between the EU and the UK, after Brexit.'

The clashes come amid the continuing battle within the Supreme Court docket over whether or not Mrs Could wants parliamentary approval to set off Article 50.

If the judges uphold the Excessive Court docket ruling towards the federal government, it may probably result in a big delay in starting the Brexit sequence. 

The Prime Minister delivered a message concerning the significance of the nation's navy attain as she addressed personnel on board HMS Ocean immediately

 

 

 

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