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Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the SNP held informal talks with EU diplomats as the Scottish government grew increasingly frustrated by Boris Johnson’s handling of the negotiations. But Downing Street said the European Union would have to change its stance for negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal to resume.
Brussels ‘chief negotiator Michel Barnier and the prime minister’s adviser for Europe, Lord Frost, spoke Monday afternoon with trade talks in limbo following lack of progress made at the EU leaders’ summit last week. pass.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “If the EU changes its position, we will be ready to talk to them.”
“But they must be willing to discuss the detailed legal text of a treaty in all areas.”
However, Blackford warned that communities will be “thrown under the bus” if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Blackford said this morning: “We really should back away from the possibility of a no-deal Brexit when we go through a health pandemic when there are significant risks to our economy, where people are losing their jobs.”
“This is just putting misery on top of misery and frankly the government has to come to its senses.”
Blackford also warned of food and medicine shortages as well as “chaos in ports”, citing the UK government’s Operation Yellowhammer document, which was published last year and showed a “reasonable worst case scenario”.
Express.co.uk learned during the conservations with Blackford, EU officials noted that the bloc was willing to compromise if the UK was prepared to do the same.
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EU officials in Brussels have previously held informal discussions with their counterparts in Edinburgh about Scotland’s agricultural and fishing industry.
It comes amid fears that Scotland’s fisheries are “unclear” about future deals, warning that “successive Westminster governments have sold off Scotland’s fishing industry.”
But Barnier, who discussed the crisis with his counterpart Lord Frost, said the EU was prepared to continue talks on all issues in the negotiations.
Crucially, he indicated that the EU was prepared to discuss “legal texts” for a deal, something the UK has been pushing.
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