Talk of trouble
There are report suggesting that Brexit talks took a turn for the worse today. A series of reports hit at nearly the same time -- some citing UK officials and other citing EU officials -- say talks are facing some trouble.
The first was a report from the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg saying talks have moved in the wrong direction:
Sounds like Brexit talks have gone worse this afternoon... A senior govt source says 'at the eleventh hour, the EU is bringing new elements into the negotiation. A breakthrough is still possible in the next few days but that prospect is receding.'
Another report, this time from Sky's Sam Coates:
Talks took a turn for the worse this afternoon says UK gvt source.
Politico's Emilio Casalicchio cited that tweet and said:
Just heard exactly the same from an EU source ... either its true or co-ordinated media management.
Cable has fallen to 1.3446 after failing a number of times at 1.3500.
Here is more from Coates:
The issue that's causing problems is the most tricky one - the one both sides thought they'd nearly sorted - is the Level Playing Field - ie how close UK stays to EU standards
We had hints about this earlier with the EU expressing worries that they didn't feel they could trust the UK and wanted some stronger mechanisms or language.
This is from Beth Rigby at Sky:
EU source tells me the expectation was [Barnier] returns to Brussels to report to Coreper, review mandate & then come back to UK over weekend to close deal, but that might not be the case. But EU negotiating team staying and more coming over weekend, so talks continue
