France - British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson said he was prepared to take Brexit talks with the
European Union down to the very last minute before the October 31
exit deadline, and if necessary to take a decision to leave
without a deal on that day.
Johnson has 68 days to convince the EU to give him a new
Brexit deal, with neither side so far willing to compromise on
the most contentious issues. If he can't get a deal, he says
Britain will leave the bloc anyway.
That leaves Britain, with the world's fifth largest economy,
heading for a messy divorce with the EU that critics fear could
lead to food shortages and major border disruption in the short
term and undermine the country's prosperity in the long term.
When asked by Reuters if he was prepared to take talks with
the EU right up to Oct. 31, Johnson said: "Well I do think that
the EU does tend to come to an agreement right at the end."
"Clearly for us, the walking away, as it were, would come on
October 31 when we would take steps to come out on the terms for
which we will have by then made absolutely colossal and
extensive and fantastic preparations," he told a news conference
at the end of a G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz.
The UK parliament has rejected three times a withdrawal deal
reached by his predecessor Theresa May with the EU, prompting
her resignation and deepening a three-year crisis that threatens
Britain's status as one of the world's pre-eminent financial
centres and a trusted, stable destination for foreign investors.
Johnson has come under criticism from lawmakers who want a
no-deal Brexit stopped under any circumstances but on Monday
sidestepped repeated questions from reporters on what he would
do if parliament tried to delay or block a no-deal Brexit.
Johnson and his allies say that the bid to rule out no-deal
undermines Britain's hand in negotiations with the EU. Earlier a
British official said EU leaders should pay no heed to British
lawmakers who say they can stop Brexit.
The prime minister declined to say if he would suspend
parliament to force Brexit through, saying only that lawmakers
had a duty to deliver Brexit.
He said that the British people were tired of Brexit being
on the front pages of newspapers and that Brexit had to be
implemented on Oct. 31, adding that allies saw Brexit as an old
argument and an "encumbrance".
"I think that it's the job of everybody in parliament to get
this thing done, I think it's what the people want. I also think
by the way it's what our friends and partners on the other side
of the Channel want," Johnson said.
"They want this thing done, they want it over."
Asked about talks with the EU, Johnson said he was
"marginally more optimistic" about the chances of a deal but
that the bloc would have to accept a "backstopectomy" - the
removal of the Irish border insurance policy known as the Irish
backstop which has proven the most contentious negotiating
issue.
The chances of a deal "all depend exclusively on the
willingness of our friends and partners to compromise on that
crucial point and to get rid of the backstop and the current
withdrawal agreement," Johnson said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said at the summit that Johnson
would be a "great" prime minister who could succeed where May
had failed but that it would not be easy.
"They're going to be going at it for a little while, but
ultimately probably it works out," Trump said of the Brexit
negotiations.
"(Britain) may have to get out, they may not make a deal.
The European Union is very tough to make deals with... just ask
Theresa May."