Is last-minute ‘curveball’ from the EU about to trigger a no-deal Brexit?

UK officials claim the bloc’s negotiators are upping demands about state aid

Michel Barnier walks to a conference centre in central London
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier walks through central London during a break from negotiations

Brexit negotiators are attempting to get the talks back on track today amid a flurry of claims about last-minute demands that could scupper the negotiations.

UK officials told Politico’s London Playbook that the talks had descended into chaos yesterday as a result of “curveballs thrown in” by Brussels. The talk of new demands has triggered suggestions that France has “launched a push to drive a harder bargain with Britain on the so-called level playing field rules”, says the news site.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.