Micheál Martin: Europe still very much up for deal on Brexit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Street Picture: PA

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said Europe is still "very much up for a deal" on Brexit after British prime minister Boris Johnson called a halt to talks.

Mr Johnson accused EU leaders of seeking to impose a series of "unacceptable" demands and called for a "fundamental change of approach" if there is to be any agreement.

The immediate response from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was to say that the EU would carry on negotiating, with talks next week in London going ahead as planned.

However, at a briefing for journalists in Westminster, the prime minister's official spokesman said the negotiations were now "over".

He said there was "no point" in the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, travelling to the UK unless the EU changes its negotiating position.

Speaking in Brussels after a meeting of EU leaders, Mr Martin said there had been progress on "quite a number of issues" and there is still room for a deal, but he warned that an agreement cannot come at any price.

"Other chapters need to be closed off and there are some outstanding issues, including fisheries, governance, and a level playing field," Mr Martin said. 

I am not going to engage in a negotiation process via the megaphone or in a public way. Suffice to say I think Britain has an enormous amount to gain through access to the European single market

In his broadcast statement, the British prime minister said it was clear from the outcome of the EU Council meeting that leaders are not prepared to offer Britain the kind of Canada-style free trade agreement it was seeking.

"From the outset, we were totally clear that we wanted nothing more complicated than a Canada-style relationship, based on friendship and free trade," he said.

"To judge by the latest EU summit in Brussels, that won't work for our EU partners. They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country.

"Given that they have refused to negotiate seriously for much of the last few months, and given that this summit appears explicitly to rule out a Canada-style deal, I have concluded that we should get ready for January 1 with arrangements that are more like Australia's, based on simple principles of global free trade."

Mr Johnson said Britain could embrace the prospect of trading on WTO terms — with tariffs on many goods and some quota restrictions — with "high hearts and complete confidence".

Asked about the narrative put forward by Britain that it is simply looking for a Canada-style trade deal, and that it has been denied this, Mr Martin said: "Sometimes the narrative is not as complex as the actual detail can be and the content of an agreement can be.

"In other words, a lot of substance has been negotiated already. It's not as simple as taking some deal off the table and handing it to somebody. This is a deal that will have to sustain long into the future."

Speaking in Dublin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said negotiations on Brexit should continue. "I think it's in all our interests across Europe and in the UK to secure a free trade agreement," he said. 

"So there's always going to be a certain amount of posturing around negotiations, but I think it's in all our interests that we secure that agreement."