Boris Johnson refuses to rule out no-deal Brexit and abruptly ends press conference

Ben Kentish, Andrew Woodcock
Boris Johnson arrives for a Nato leaders meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford: AP
Boris Johnson arrives for a Nato leaders meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford: AP

Boris Johnson has refused to rule out the prospect of a no-deal exit from the EU at the end of 2020, as he abruptly drew a press conference at the Nato meeting to an end.

The Independent challenged the prime minister to say whether it was possible that the UK would reach the end of its transition to Brexit in a year’s time without sealing a trade deal with either the EU or US.

But the PM dodged the question, instead saying he was going to wind up the press conference before launching into a tirade against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.

It was the second day in succession that Mr Johnson has ducked questions about the danger that the UK will crash out of the EU on unfavourable World Trade Organisation terms at the end of next year.

Under the terms of the withdrawal deal he struck with Brussels in October, the UK has until 31 December 2020 to agree a free trade agreement (FTA) or leave with no-deal. The EU has offered to extend the negotiations to 2022, but the Conservative party manifesto explicitly rules out requesting any further delay.

Senior EU negotiator Sabine Weyand has said that the 11-month deadline leaves time at most for a “bare bones” FTA, while many trade experts believe a deal would take far longer.

At a press conference to conclude the Nato 70th anniversary leaders’ meeting in Watford, Hertfordshire, Mr Johnson was asked whether he had made it “crystal clear” to US president Donald Trump that the NHS and pharmaceuticals were off the table in any post-Brexit trade deal and whether he accepted that the UK could be leaving the EU in a year’s time without a deal with either the US or its former European partners.

He responded: “I think everybody by now has rumbled this for the nonsense that it is. I think I might just wind up this press conference now because I think we have started to scrape the barrel.”

A report by the UK in a Changing Europe thinktank this week warned that a no-deal outcome in December next year could deliver a hit of 3.2 to 4.5 per cent to UK GDP and reduce government revenues by up to £28 billion annually.