EU urges Boris Johnson to take ‘unique and highly attractive’ offer over Brexit

Boris Johnson is interviewed by the media. Photograph: Mike Brooke. - Credit: Mike Brooke

An EU official has urged Boris Johnson to take the ‘unique and highly attractive’ offer it has made to the UK which it says has never been offered to any country before.

David McAllister, the chair of the European Parliament’s UK Coordination Group, told German newspaper Börsen-Zeitung the EU had made ‘a unique and highly attractive offer to the UK that has never been made to a third country: quota-free and duty-free access for goods to the single market’.

But he said in the interest of ‘fair competition’ that the UK must accept the level playing field to progress in negotiations.

McAllister said as well the level-playing field there needed to be a long-term fisheries agreement and a ‘robust’ system of governance which the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would oversee.

‘For the EU it is not negotiable that the ECJ is the only institution that is allowed to interpret EU law.’

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He warned that a no-deal Brexit would have ‘considerable consequences’, explaining: ‘A disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the internal market and the customs union would still be a very bad option for both sides.’

McAllister said that a deal needed to be reached by the end of October to ensure it can be ratified by the EU in time by the end of the year.

This week former Brexit secretary David Davis urged the government to send more civil servants to Brussels to help speed up the process.