In the press briefing following the conclusion...>

UK: In the press briefing following the conclusion of UK-EU FTA talks, the UK's

chief negotiator David Frost paints a very negative picture of the state of

talks. 

- Says "we made very little progress towards agreement on the most significant

outstanding issues between us". 

- "The major obstacle to this is the EU's insistence on including a set of novel

and unbalanced proposals on the so-called 'level playing field' which would bind

this country to EU law or standards [...] in a way that is unprecedented in FTAs

and not envisaged in the Political Declaration."

- Announces the UK will publish its draft legal texts for the FTA next week. 

- MNI View: The bulk of the detail in EU-UK negotiations is often finalised in

last minute crunch talks, and the progress of talks are likely to accelerate

later in the year. Nevertheless, the language used by both sides is increasingly

acrimonious, and more negative than that seen during Art. 50 talks. This points

increasingly towards a 'thin' FTA to be agreed in late-2020 that leaves out

major aspects of EU-UK trade, regulation, and potentially security cooperation.