EU ULTIMATUM: Barnier orders UK to accept free movement or face crippling trade barriers

In a private meeting with MEPs, the EU’s chief negotiator said the link between the frictionless movement of goods and people will be the “toughest question” in the next round of talks. He claimed Mr Johnson’s timetable for a free-trade agreement by December 2020 is “too short” and will not be met. “Eleven months is too short a period of time,” Mr Barnier said, according to a note seen by Express.co.uk. “We will have to focus on specific subjects.”

New pacts on goods, data, fisheries, aviation and judicial will be the basis for early negotiations, the Brussels bureaucrat added.

But he described the timetable as a “very difficult scenario”, which could result in Britain leaving on the transition period on WTO after December 2020.

Mr Barnier hinted that a Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party coalition would result in new negotiations on a much closer future relationship with Britain.

He conceded that this option would not take no-deal Brexit off the table until the House of Commons ratifies the new agreement.

Britain will be forced to sign up to extensive level-playing field commitments if Mr Johnson is to achieve a “zero tariffs, zero quota” relationship with Brussels.

Mr Barnier told MEPs he will demand the measures because he is very worried that without taking precautions Westminster will be able to manipulate standards to make the country more competitive.

He said the future trade deal could not replicate similar EU agreements with Japan and South Korea because of Britain’s geographical proximity.

During the negotiations, Britain will remain aligned to Brussels as part of the transition period.

Under the withdrawal agreement, the UK and EU can agree to a one-off extension of one or two years.

Mr Barnier said that decision would have to be made by next June – after extra negotiations on how much Britain will contribute to the bloc’s annual budget.

His former deputy, Sabine Weyand, who is now the EU’s most senior trade official, today said Brussels would seek to assert its own model on the UK in future talks.

Speaking at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum, she said: “First of all, it’s true that Brexit is a negative, first of all for the UK, but also for the EU.

“I think the response has to be if you lose weight, you have to build muscle and that means that the EU has to pull together its various instruments and act as a more joined up actor by putting together.

“Its industrial policy, its finances, its trade policy and its research policy in order to assert its own model of economic development own brand of social market economy in a global context where this is increasingly contested.

“Brexit reinforces the need for the EU to strengthen itself.”

Responding to Mr Barnier’s comments, Caroline Voaden, leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs, said: “Barnier’s comments show the best deal is the one we have now as full members of the EU.

“If Boris Johnson gets a majority, we will be talking about Brexit for years to come and the risk of a no deal exit onto WTO terms in 2020 is real, as eleven months is not long enough to negotiate a trade deal.

“The Conservative’s campaign slogan in this election lies in tatters.”