EU ‘doing everything possible’ to reach Brexit agreement, says Britain will be responsible if no deal

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said he and the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier were doing all they could to get a Brexit deal, and if they failed it would be Britain’s responsibility.

In an interview with a German newspaper, Juncker said he and Barnier were working intensively for a deal, because it would be a catastrophe for Britain and Europe if Britain left the EU without an organised withdrawal process.

“Our chief negotiator Michel Barnier and I are doing everything possible to get an agreement,” he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. “But if we don’t succeed in the end, the responsibility would lie exclusively on the British side.”

Britain is expected to leave the EU on October 31. Officials in Brussels say Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made little progress in negotiating a new exit deal to replace the one agreed by his predecessor Theresa May, but which was rejected three times by the British parliament.

Juncker added that negotiations on a future trade relationship between Britain and the EU would be greatly complicated by a disorderly Brexit.

“We will want to and need to seal a free-trade agreement,” he said. “But that won’t happen just like that, as some in Britain imagine. Some of the trade deals we sealed in my term of office took many years to reach.”

A survey published on Friday showed that more than a third of small British companies think a no-deal Brexit on October 31 will hurt their business.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said 39 per cent of small companies thought it would have a negative impact, compared with 34 per cent who thought it would have no impact and 11 per cent who believed it would have a positive impact. The remainder said they did not know.

Most of those firms who thought a no-deal Brexit would harm their business said they were unable to plan for this scenario.

“As the risk of a chaotic no-deal Brexit on October 31 remains alive and kicking, it is worrying that many small firms have either not prepared or are finding that they can’t prepare,” FSB national chairman Mike Cherry said.

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“Ongoing uncertainty is to blame for preparations hitting the skids with the picture still not clear as to how the UK will leave the EU.”

The average cost of small businesses’ preparations for a no-deal Brexit stood at around 2,000 pounds (US$2,470).

Meanwhile, the UK’s public spending watchdog said on Friday that Britain’s looming exit from the EU carries real risks that medicines and health care supplies will be delayed.

While the government has taken some steps to manage the risks, there is still significant work to be done, the National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report.

Lawmaker Meg Hillier, who chairs parliament’s public accounts committee, said the report was “deeply concerning”.

The health ministry “still doesn’t know whether all stockpiles are in place”, has no idea whether social care providers such as nursing homes for the sick and elderly are ready, and is not sure whether freight capacity needed for medical imports will be in place on time, she said.

“If government gets this wrong, it could have the gravest of consequences,” Hillier said.