Brexit news – live: Boris Johnson again insists UK will ‘prosper mightily’ in no-deal as Barnier to brief EU

Richard Burnett, chief executive of RHA, has warned that “on literally every front at the moment we have no clarity”.

On logistics, he said: “These are all basic principles that should have been in place a long time ago. This is a high-risk strategy from, I think, any Government.

“EU hauliers are saying if there is disruption in the UK we will not come, and we have a supply chain issue there and in terms of getting product in, but then if we’ve got issues around our ability to go and bring this product back because of market access issues, we have a big problem.

“So on literally every front at the moment we have no clarity, the clock is ticking, we’re almost at the year-end and all of these issues are still unresolved.”

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for an “urgent Brexit deal” involving grace periods, as reported by the BBC’s Faisal Islam.

The CBI said: “Final preparations are currently impossible for most businesses… Disruption is now inevitable..just a matter of how much..only responsible course of action to limit damage is to get a deal & get ready, this week.”

Arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage has written in The Telegraph that there “is still a slim chance that the UK really could break free from the EU without a deal.”

Mr Farage adds that Boris Johnson has “handled the Covid crisis very badly” and his premiership is being widely debated.

But the leader of the Brexit Party thinks that if Mr Johnson announced we were leaving without a trade deal it would “turn him into a hero overnight.”

Downing Street insiders have flatly rejected reports that there has been a breakthrough in the row over fishing quotas.

Reports suggested the UK had offered a cut of around a third in the amount of fish EU vessels catch in British waters over a five-year period.

That is down from an initial demand to cut it by 60% over three years but the compromise was reportedly rejected by Brussels.

A Number 10 insider described the reported compromise as “b****cks” and officials have warned that significant differences remain between the two sides.

Mr Barnier will update EU ambassadors at 3pm GMT before addressing MEPs at 5pm.

Journalist Rory Mulholland comments that Europe is looking on in horror at Britain’s ‘catastrophic year’:

Our columnist, former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable, comments on what Boris Johnson needs to do moving forward – in order to deal with the happenings of this year:

Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves said Labour “want a deal” and warned the impact of no deal for businesses “would be absolutely catastrophic”.

Speaking at Labour’s online Hauliers and Brexit Roundtable, she told the PA news agency: “In terms of the trade deal, obviously we’ll look at whatever the government brings back, we’ve just got nine days now until the end of the transition period and I think what you’ve heard from the hauliers today is that they want a deal and they want the transition to be as smooth as possible, and part of that is getting a deal because we know the chaos that would ensue and we’re just getting a small taste of that really at the moment with the disruption we’re seeing in Kent.”

She added: “So we want a deal. I think the impact of no deal for these businesses and many others as well would be absolutely catastrophic, so we will look at the deal and compare it to the alternative at this stage. Beyond the deal, we’ve just got to get in place some of the basics to make it work.”

Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has more on the secret phone call that allegedly took place between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (see post from 10.53am).

In a highly unusual move, Downing Street would neither confirm nor deny on the record whether the calls between the prime minister and Ms Von der Leyen had taken place, he reports.

The health and care sector faces “perilous uncertainty” after the Brexit transition period is up on 31 December, a new report has said.

The think tank said there was “a perilously uncertain future facing the UK at the end of the Brexit transition period could put the UK’s health and care system at risk”.

The report said new migration rules, possible disruption to medicines and devices, “an ongoing economic slowdown” and “barriers to science investment” would hit the health sector.

Referring to possible disruption of medical supplies, the study said that while extensive planning had been undertaken by the government and NHS. “it is not clear exactly what scenario has been prepared for and what the impact will be if disruption is longer or broader than expected”.

And the Nuffield Trust stated that “plans will not have anticipated the effect of the current border restrictions brought in as a result of the new Covid-19 variant”.

In its assessment, the study said: “The health of the public could be directly worsened by a prolonged economic slowdown that leads to lower living standards and a squeeze on public spending, as well as the possibility of less effective regulation of determinants of health like air pollution.

“These risks could hit the most vulnerable hardest.”

A reminder that earlier this year, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that a no-deal outcome could result in a 2 per cent hit to gross domestic product – a measure of the size of the economy – in 2021.

That would equate to around £45bn being wiped off the value of the UK economy, reports the PA news agency.