Barnier To Remain In London, Any Brief Of EU Ambassadors Via Videolink

Sky's Beth Rigby tweets: "Barnier has been expected to return to Brussels today to brief EU ambassadors on talks but he is now NOT returning to Brussels but will remain in London. If he briefs ambos later will be done of video link."

• Earlier some stories indicated that Barnier remaining in London may not be due to an extension of talks or an imminent deal, but that he had simply missed the only Eurostar train travelling from London to Brussels today, although this has not been confirmed.
• The Times' Bruno Waterfield tweets a threat on issues in talks and beyond: "Barnier is still in London. He is at the limit of his (very restrictive) mandate and is expected to head back to Brussels tomorrow for talks. France has flourished its veto. This was never a conventional trade deal. It has always been about politics and the EU's attempt to be a power bloc, red in tooth and realpolitik claw. EU is finding it difficult to digest idea of a large, advanced neighbour that is not a supplicant. It is appearing quite likely that EU would rather have no deal than allow the UK to have the same autonomy that, for example, Canada has with the US"