After years of campaigning for an exit from the European Union at all costs, the Daily Express sent out a whimpering plea today as negotiations look set to collapse.
Boris Johnson warned there is a “strong possibility” that the UK will fail to broker a trade agreement with the EU as he ordered his Cabinet to prepare for no-deal at the end of the Brexit transition period.
The Prime Minister said the “deal on the table is really not at the moment right”, saying it would leave the UK vulnerable to sanctions or tariffs if it did not follow the bloc’s new laws.
He said the current proposals would keep the nation “kind of locked in the EU’s orbit”, but insisted negotiators would “go the extra mile” in trying to get a treaty in time for December 31.
He told his Cabinet on Thursday evening to “get on and make those preparations” for a departure without a deal in place, or in an “Australian relationship” as he puts it.
“I do think we need to be very, very clear, there is now a strong possibility – a strong possibility – that we will have a solution that is much more like an Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU,” he said.
Reaction
Most of today’s newspapers led with the devastating news that Britain is on the brink of a no deal with its closest trading partner.
Johnson’s quote is carried on the front of the Financial Times, which calls it a “bleak warning, and the i says Britain can expect tariffs and higher prices in 20 days.
Just published: front page of the Financial Times UK edition Friday December 11 https://t.co/eCx1FwreDh pic.twitter.com/OOyVqKy0ZC
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) December 10, 2020
Friday’s front page: ‘Strong’ chance of no deal, admits PM#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/vRprheCXLD
— i newspaper (@theipaper) December 10, 2020
The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Daily Mail report the Prime Minister has told his Cabinet to prepare for “no deal”.
The front page of tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 10, 2020
‘Prepare for no deal, warns Boris Johnson’#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/smMmtwIheh
Friday’s @DailyMailUK #MailFrontPages pic.twitter.com/SJ23K2QfUG
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) December 10, 2020
But the Daily Express took the biscuit, claiming Brussels has “never truly understood… All we ever wanted was our freedom”.
EXPRESS: All we ever wanted was our freedom #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/XxJ5xpRL3M
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) December 10, 2020
Related: FT warns Remainers that they “should resist Brexit gloating”
