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Factional infighting in Downing Street has been blamed for a deadlock in Brexit negotiations, as Dominic Cummings confirmed he will leave government at Christmas.
Manfred Weber, leader of the largest party in the European Parliament and a political ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, lamented the “chaotic situation” at the heart of No. 10.
Cummings, Boris Johnson’s most powerful aide and a former Vote Leave campaign manager, confirmed Thursday night after days of speculation that he would be leaving Downing Street.
Weber, an MEP from the German Christian Social Union, a sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that there appeared to be a lack of clear direction from the heart of government at a crucial moment in the conversations.
The Brexit talks are stalled over two main issues: the EU’s future access to UK fishing waters and the “level playing field” provisions to ensure that neither side can achieve a competitive advantage by reducing regulatory standards or subsidizing bankrupt companies.
Weber said: “There are fair questions that we are asking… If you want to change in the future, with your background of sovereignty, your subsidies, regulations, then we must have a choice, an opportunity to react to stop and limit your access to our market .. .
“I see what is happening now in Downing Street. We can also see this as quite a chaotic situation where we have no idea what the line really is in Britain. So don’t tell us we should be ready for a compromise.
“We need a clear idea of Boris Johnson now and I think the time for leadership has come, considering all the developments in America where London understood that it will not be so easy with Joe Biden. [as US president-elect] for easy business deal now.
“It is time to take responsibility and reach a common understanding. Britain has red lines, we have red lines, now let’s compromise. “
The claim was immediately refuted by UK government sources, who noted that David Frost, a former British ambassador to Denmark who is now the prime minister’s special adviser, leads the UK negotiating team.
“David and the team are fully focused on the negotiations,” said a UK official. “The prime minister has made it clear that he wants a deal if there is a deal to be done. We have been negotiating constructively and creatively ”.
The official added: “I think the reason the EU feels the need to say these kinds of things is that they are starting to realize that we meant it when we said that there were fundamental principles that we could not move from. We need to see some realism and creativity on their side if we are to close the significant gaps that remain. “
Downing Street has been in chaos following a report that Lee Cain, Johnson’s loyal communications director and a former Vote Leave ally, had been offered the post of chief of staff. The news was strongly resisted within the government and Cain resigned since then.
Cummings, the prime minister’s senior adviser and former director of the Vote Leave campaign, told the BBC late Thursday that “the rumors that I am threatening to resign are fabricated.” However, he confirmed that he had not changed his plans since blogging in January in which he wrote that he expected to become “largely redundant” by the end of 2020.
Cummings dismissed claims as “comical” that a dispute over how to handle the final phase of the Brexit negotiation was to blame for the recent Downing Street crisis.
In the past, EU officials and diplomats have expressed concern that former members of the Vote Leave campaign “held captive” the prime minister.
A senior EU diplomat said Cummings’ planned departure offered hope that the UK government’s resistance to a deal with the EU on a future domestic subsidy regime could be loosened.
“His flawed concept of state aid has held the negotiation hostage,” the diplomat said. Cummings has defended the UK’s future ability to subsidize the tech industry as a major dividend from Brexit.
However, EU officials close to the talks do not consider recent events to be very important to the outcome. An agreement must be secured in a few weeks to allow time for parliamentary ratification.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier tweeted a photo of himself on a London football field on Thursday, citing the jam over rules and subsidies.
He tweeted: “Short break from intense negotiations in London. I was looking for level playing fields … “
The EU negotiating team will leave London on Friday and reconnect with their British counterparts in Brussels on Monday. It is expected that significant progress can be made before the EU leaders’ summit next Thursday.
