Video
Emmanuel Macron ally claims Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposals are a ‘joke’
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photograph: Neil Hall/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
A French MP within president Emmanuel Macron's party En Marche! have said Boris Johnson's Brexit proposals are 'almost like a joke' and believed we were now headed for a no-deal Brexit.
Bruno Bonnell was answering questions on Emma Barnett's BBC Radio 5 Live programme when he made the claim about the UK's latest proposals for Brexit.
Bonnell said what Boris Johnson is "suggesting right now is a very complex process - even more complicated than what is proposed by the backstop.
"Secondly it is again a last-minute proposal as if he wanted to force the issue and put the responsibility of a no-deal Brexit on EU shoulders".
He added that he believed it was "not a genuine offer" and that it was "political manipulation".
You may also want to watch:
Barnett said that Boris Johnson had described it as "the final chance of a deal", which Bonnell agreed was correct, but he said that existing terms the prime minister was proposing is "not a final version, it's almost like a joke", before adding: "We don't even understand it."
He continued: "I think Boris Johnson is in this nightmare, between a rock and a hard place".
Most Read
- 1 Could Mexican Coke spark a new Coca-Cola cold war?
- 2 A view from inside the Heathrow petri dish
- 3 The truth about 'buy British'
- 4 Liz Truss accused of freeports 'catastrophic blunder' following Brexit deals
- 5 The man the Soviet Union left in space
- 6 Downing Street announces plans to change English voting system following string of Labour victories
- 7 Why can't the English see what the Scots and Welsh can?
- 8 Labour should never have swallowed the Brexit pill
- 9 Sadiq Khan re-elected as London mayor as Laurence Fox loses £10k deposit
- 10 Noel Clarke: The man who would not take no for an answer
Bonnell added that he believed a no-deal Brexit was now the most likely scenario.
Emmanuel Macron has upped the ante on talks by saying the workings of a deal must be in place by Friday for any movement on a deal to be made at the council meeting in less than a fortnight's time.
But Downing Street said the imposition of such a deadline was not "helpful" and called on the EU to "match the compromises" made by the UK.
"I don't think it is helpful for me to talk in those terms," said the prime minister's spokesman.
"The prime minister has been the first to set out we are under time pressure if we are going to leave the EU with a deal."
He added: "We are ready to talk with the EU at a pace to secure a deal so we can move on and build a new partnership between the UK and EU.
"But if this is to be possible then the EU must match the compromises that the UK has made."
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
