Brexit: Angela Merkel says talks will reach ‘crucial’ phase over next weeks, amid fears trade deal close to collapse

David Frost and Michel Barnier expected to meet next week in bid to save negotiations

Negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and the European Union will enter their decisive phase in the next few weeks, German chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

“The crucial weeks are now approaching in which we have to clarify the future relationship between Great Britain and the EU,” she told a news conference on Friday.

It comes as No 10’s negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier prepare to hold emergency talks next week in a bid to save the fading prospects of a free trade deal.

Mr Barnier has said he and Mr Frost may hold a one-on-one meeting “if conditions allow”, although no formal discussions are planned until 7 September.

The EU’s top negotiator is said to fear talks are on the brink of collapse and has reportedly called Ms Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron and other heads of state in the bloc to ask for support to rescue the chances of an agreement.

Mr Barnier has made clear an agreement between London and Brussels must be reached before a 15 October summit of the bloc’s national leaders so it could be ratified by the end of the 2020 transition period.

“Barnier is ringing capitals to update us on the lack of progress,” one unnamed EU official told the Express. “He thinks we’re coming to the end of the road and have gone as far as we can without serious political decisions made at the top level.”

EU officials have also told The Times if there is no breakthrough on the so-called level-playing field issue of state aid by the end of the eighth round of talks in London – set to conclude on 11 September – then formal negotiations could collapse next month.

David Frost and Michel Barnier together in Brussels on 21 August (AP)

Labour’s shadow trade secretary Emily Thornberry said there was now “very little time left” for Boris Johnson to deliver on his election promise to forge a free trade deal.

“Boris Johnson won the general election on a promise to Britain that he had a comprehensive 'oven ready' deal with the EU. He must deliver … Nearly half our trade is with Europe and our economy depends on it remaining frictionless and tariff free.”

The German government has dropped discussions about Brexit negotiations from a scheduled meeting of Brussels envoys next week because there has been no “tangible progress” in trade deal talks, EU diplomats said on Thursday.

“We have had the whole summer completely wasted, a cabinet that doesn’t understand how the negotiations work, a prime minister who, I think, doesn’t understand how the negotiations work,” one EU official was reported to have said.

“Because [Mr Johnson] is under the wrong impression that he can pull off negotiating at the 11th hour.”

MEP Sandro Gozi, Italy’s former Europe minister, said earlier this week: “I doubt even [Angela] Merkel or [Emmanuel] Macron would be able to transform a stalemate into a positive outcome … Every day that passes without concrete progress is a day closer to no-deal Brexit.”