Britain and the EU on Monday began to repair last week’s rift over post-Brexit trade talks, increasing hopes that intense face-to-face negotiations could resume this week in London.
Following a phone call with the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost, Michel Barnier, chief EU negotiator, said on Twitter that Brussels was prepared to begin discussing detailed legal treaty texts and was ready to “intensify” the talks, signalling the possible end-game in the fraught negotiations.
Last Friday Downing Street said the talks were “over”, but British officials welcomed Mr Barnier’s move and said talks could resume if the EU accepted that both sides needed to compromise to reach a deal.