‘Ball is in EU’s court’ as chance of Brexit deal recedes – Gove

Senior British minister Michael Gove said the chance of striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union had fallen because the bloc had not been willing to intensify talks or produce detailed legal texts.

Asked by Sky News if EU negotiator Michel Barnier should come to London this week, Gove said the “ball was in his court”.

He said both sides needed to compromise to reach a deal, but “the EU side is not doing so at the moment”.

Later Gove said the door remained “ajar” for talks on a post-Brexit trade deal to continue if the European Union changed its approach.

“I think the EU effectively ended the current round of talks last week. It was the case we were making progress but then the EU retreated from that,” he told BBC TV.

Asked if the door was ajar for talks to continue, Gove said: “It is ajar. We hope that the EU will change their position; we’re certainly not saying if they do change their position that we can’t talk to them.”