Brexit: 'Much remains to be done' to seal a deal, Michel Barnier warns

Michel Barnier on Friday dampened hopes that a Brexit trade deal could be done next week, warning that a lot of work still needed to be done before an agreement was struck.

Mr Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, met his UK counterpart David Frost as intensified negotiations resumed at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels.

Trade talks are expected to continue through the weekend and into next week following negotiations in London.

"After seven days of intensive negotiations in London, talks continue," Mr Barnier tweeted. "Working hard for an agreement. Much remains to be done."

Lord Frost did not comment on the negotiations, which are being held under social distancing restrictions amid fast-rising Covid infections in Belgium.

There was progress in the London talks but no breakthrough in any of the three major stumbling blocks of fishing, "level playing field" guarantees or the deal's enforcement.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Thursday that this weekend's talks would focus on devising an enforceable "level playing field" system with dispute resolution mechanisms.

Britain had previously rejected any enforceable "level playing field" guarantees, insisting instead on commitments similar to those in the EU's trade deal with Canada.

A senior German government official said on Friday he was "deeply concerned" about the lack of progress in trade talks given the heavy reliance of German companies on funding in the City of London.

However, there are hopes that a trade deal could be done, with negotiators expected to break off talks on or around November 3. That would set the scene for Boris Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen to finalise the deal before the mid-November deadline to agree it.

That would give the European Parliament time to ratify the agreement before the end of transition period and avoid a no deal exit – which would mean WTO terms and tariffs – on January 1.

Britain has until Saturday to respond to a European Commission lawsuit over its Internal Market Bill.

The lengthy legal process began after the UK missed an EU deadline to drop clauses in the Bill to do with Northern Ireland, which break international law and overrides the Withdrawal Agreement.

On Friday, the commission brought a separate lawsuit against the UK over its "unjustifiably stricter" import restrictions on certain plant pests.