Brexit: time is running out

Relations between the UK and the EU have fallen into mutual recrimination, with both sides blaming each other for the stalemate after no progress on key fisheries and state aid issues. On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted that the UK "will prosper powerfully in one way or another" after the end of the Brexit transition period in December, with or without a trade agreement. 

EU Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to be removed by EU leaders in an attempt to get a breakthrough in negotiations on a trade treaty with the UK.

Representatives of the bloc's 27 member states hope that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will pave the way for heads of state and government to intervene in the negotiations in a stalemate on 16 September. Barnier and his UK colleague, Lord Frost, can only agree on the details.