Olive branch accepted by Downing Street over Brexit talks

POST-Brexit trade talks between the UK and the EU will now continue after Downing Street accepted an olive branch from Michel Barnier.

Number 10 claims Britain is now ‘ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations’ after almost a week of discussions being on hold amid a tense standoff.

The Government said while ‘significant gaps remain’ between the two sides ‘in the most difficult areas’ it is willing ‘to see if it is possible to bridge them in intensive talks’.

However, Number 10 also warned ‘it takes two to reach an agreement’ and it is ‘entirely possible that negotiations will not succeed’.

The decision to restart formal trade negotiations comes after Mr Barnier finally admitted this morning there will have to be ‘compromises on both sides’ for a deal to be agreed.

Trade talks have been paused since last week after the EU said the UK would need to move first to break the negotiating deadlock, prompting Boris Johnson to formally trigger preparations for a no-deal split.

The Government left the door open to restarting talks but only if it received a ‘clear assurance’  that there would be a ‘genuine negotiation rather than one side being expected to make all of the moves’.

He told the European Parliament he believed an ‘agreement is within reach’ but warned ‘time is running out’ as the clock ticks down to the end of the post-Brexit standstill transition period in December.