LONDON, 22 December, 2020, (TON): Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that there were still problems in Brexit trade talks and that Britain would thrive without a deal.

“The position is unchanged: there are problems,” Johnson told reporters when asked if there would be a trade deal. “Its vital that everybody understands that the UK has got to be able to control its own laws completely and also that we’ve got to be able to control our own fisheries.”

“WTO terms would be more than satisfactory for the UK. And we can certainly cope with any difficulties that are thrown our way. Not that we don’t want a deal but that WTO terms would be entirely satisfactory,” he said.

Johnson said he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, about border issues, but not about Brexit.

“Its his birthday by the way, but we vowed to stick off Brexit because that negotiation is being conducted as you know via the European Commission and that’s quite proper,” Johnson said.

A Brexit trade deal would ensure that the goods trade which makes up half of annual EU-UK commerce, worth nearly a trillion dollars in all, would remain free of tariffs and quotas.

Failure to agree a deal on goods trade would send shockwaves through financial markets, hurt European economies, snarl borders and disrupt supply chains.

In the case of a “no deal” on trade, Britain would lose zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the European single market of 450 million consumers overnight.

The UK officially left the EU on 31 January, 2020, but trade and other sectors remain within the bloc's structures until the end of the year.

Unless Johnson can strike a trade deal with the EU in the next 10 days, the UK will leave the bloc’s informal membership on 31 December at 2300 London time without one and the trade between the two sides will fall back on rules and tariffs established by the World Trade Organization in 1995.