Can a Brexit rabbit be pulled out of the hat as deadline looms?

With week-long Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union (EU) ending Friday without a significant breakthrough, the big question was what happens next.

The focus will switch to a planned video conference call Saturday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

It has left Brexit watchers and political commentators in London wondering Friday night whether the two political heavyweights can find a way through a deadlock.

Johnson said in a media interview Friday it was now up to the EU to avoid a no-deal scenario over post-Brexit trade.

Noting that a deal with Brussels was “all there”, Johnson said Brussels had to be commonsensical to get an agreement across the line, with both sides setting an October deadline to settle their differences.

On the BBC, Johnson said: “I hope that we get a deal, it’s up to our friends (in Brussels).”
He added that the EU had done a deal with Canada of a kind that Britain wanted, adding: “why shouldn’t they do it with us? We’re so near, we’ve been members for 45 years. It’s all there, it’s just up to them.”

This week’s ninth-round of negotiations was billed as the final shot at resolving differences ahead of a critical meeting mid-October of leaders of the 27 EU member states.

The Daily Telegraph in London posed the question Friday “what will come from Johnson and von der Leyen’s powwow?”

The commentary said the president of the commission had made clear that the game was not up yet, as the final scheduled round of UK-EU trade negotiations closed in Brussels.

“Is the Prime Minister limbering up to make some concessions?” asked the Telegraph, citing the fact that Johnson had previously done an about-turn on his insistence there would be no different post-Brexit customs rules between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain.