Boris Johnson today said he was prepared to take final Brexit talks down to the last minute, but would then leave without a deal on 31 October, if no deal had been brokered.
This leaves just 68 days for the prime minister to secure a new deal, with neither side currently prepared to compromise on key issues.
The scenario leaves the UK facing a messy exit from the bloc, with food shortages and considerable border disruption expected, which could leave long-lasting economic scars on the country.
“The EU does tend to come to an agreement right at the end,” he said. “Clearly for us the walking away, as it were, would come on 31 October when we would take steps to come out … we would have by then made absolutely colossal extensive and fantastic preparations.”
Mr Johnson said he believed that other EU states, as well as the British public, now wanted to put Brexit behind them and move on.
“I think that it’s the job of everybody in parliament to get this thing done,” he said. “I think it’s what the people want, I also think by the way it’s what our friends and partners on the other side of the Channel want.
“They want this thing done, they want it over.
“You talk to our friends as I have done in the last few weeks and they are very enthusiastic about getting on with the future. They regard Brexit now as an encumbrance, an old argument. They want to talk about the new partnership that we’re going to build.”
The prime minister repeatedly refused to rule out suspending parliament in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the G7 in Biarritz, as Boris Johnson holds a series of meetings ahead of the summit's end.
Boris Johnson has announced that Britain is to make an immediate donation of £10 million to help protect and restore the Amazon rainforest amid the wildfires devastating the region.
Here’s more from our political editor Andrew Woodcock.
UK donates £10 million to help protect and restore Amazon rainforest amid wildfire crisis
Prime minister accused of paying 'lip service' to the environment after reports he is planning to cut fuel dutiesFormer PM Gordon Brown has called for parliament to order an independent inquiry into the consequences of a no-deal withdrawal from the EU.
Brown said MPs should seize control of the House of Commons agenda to ensure the full impact of leaving the EU without an agreement is made clear.
“I think what they should do is agree that they take over the business of the House of Commons for a day, as they did before, pass a law that says that the government must instruct and produce an independent report on the consequences of a no-deal,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“And that should be before the House of Commons before we ever go ahead. That would be a sensible way forward.”
Brown also branded the G7 “impotent” and said we were living in a “leaderless world”.
He explained: “When you have got an organisation that cannot agree on a communique, that has got no agreed agenda, that's got no agreement even on membership, and has broken down, as far as I can see, over the weekend into small huddles of individuals doing bilateral discussions – you’ve really got a leaderless world.
“It is rightly called by some the G Zero because the world seems to be more divided than I can remember.”
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison greeted Boris Johnson and immediately began talking about England’s cricket win as the pair met at the G7 summit in Biarritz.
“Congratulations on the Ashes,” he told Johnson.
Johnson replied that he was “not taking anything for granted” and Mr Morrison pointed out there were “two to go”.
The final two games of the series - which is currently level at one-all - will take place in September.
Labour’s shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner said the “tragedy unfolding in the Amazon should not be used as a PR stunt” by Boris Johnson.
“The truth is that £10 million is an embarrassingly tiny contribution to deal with the situation in the Amazon which is part of the sustained anti-environment campaign being waged by a right-wing Brazilian government.
“Boris Johnson’s government has pointedly refused to ensure that UK companies are not aiding and abetting the destruction of the Amazon by ruling out from any trade deal beef raised on rainforest land burnt out by ranchers.”
Boris Johnson has called on the BBC to “cough up” the £745m annual cost of maintaining free TV licences for the over-75s.
Here’s all the details on No 10’s row with the Beeb over the decision to means-test the subsidy.
Boris Johnson says BBC should ‘cough up’ £745m annual cost of free TV licences for all over-75s
Prime minister accused by Labour of ‘appalling’ disregard for pensionersAs few as six per cent of cross-border businesses in Ireland are prepared for cash-flow issues in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a report has found.
Here’s the latest on the warnings for traders.
Only 6% of cross-border businesses are prepared for no-deal Brexit
Only one in 20 international firms fully aware of ramifications for contracts if UK crashes out of Europe
Boris Johnson is using the closing stages of the G7 summit to hold a series of meetings with world leaders including Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.
The PM will also hold face-to-face meetings with Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and outgoing Italian premier Giuseppe Conte.
Elsewhere in Biarritz, the leaders of the G7 nations will consider how to protect the environment, with Johnson pledging £10 million to help prevent the destruction of the Amazon.
Host Emmanuel Macron said there would not be a final communique today – an agreed statement backed by all the leaders.
The 2018 G7 summit ended in farce as Donald Trump withdrew his support for the text and Macron is keen to avoid a repeat performance.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has written to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urging him to give up his hopes of leading a government of national unity if Boris Johnson is they manage to oust Boris Johnson through a vote of no confidence.
“Insisting you lead that emergency government will therefore jeopardise the chances of a no confidence vote gaining enough support to pass in the first place,” she said.
Our political editor Andrew Woodock has more.
Swinson urges Corbyn to give up hopes of becoming caretaker PM if Johnson is ousted
Liberal Democrat leader demands clarity on where Labour stands on halting Brexit altogether
Boris Johnson used Sunday’s meeting with Donald Trump meeting to raise concerns about a range of US restrictions on UK goods – namechecking Melton Mowbray pork pies as an example of a British product stymied by the trade barrier.
But Matthew O'Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association – has said the prime minister was wrong to claim the pies were in Thailand and Iceland but not the US.
“What he right?” he was asked on Today programme. “Not really...”
Gordon Brown said a no-deal Brexit would amount to an act of “self-harm” by the UK – and will even put lives at risk.
Andrew Woodcock has more on the former PM’s plan for MPs to force the government to produce an independent report on the impacts.
Boris Johnson must order report on impact of no-deal Brexit, Gordon Brown says
Former prime minister says lives may be at risk in national act of 'self-harm'
Boris Johnson said it was “fantastic” to talk to Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, who “seemed in very high spirits” despite the Ashes test loss.
But they didn’t spend the whole time talking cricket. A Downing Street spokesman said Johnson and Morrison “discussed their enthusiasm for an enhanced and deep trading relationship once the UK leaves the EU”.
“The prime minister set out the increase in the UK’s diplomatic presence in the Pacific, which prime minister Morrison welcomed.
“The two leaders were concerned about the current situation in Hong Kong and agreed that it was paramount for all sides to remain calm and peaceful, and to maintain Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy as guaranteed by the legally-binding Joint Declaration.”
MPs must stop squabbling and work together to stop Boris Johnson from pushing through a no-deal Brexit, according to the SNP’s Westminster leader.
Ian Blackford warned that the government is “prepared to crash the bus” over Brexit after Johnson said that the chances of securing a deal with the EU are “touch and go”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Monday, Blackford said MPs must move quickly on their return to the House of Commons in order to seize the order paper in a bid to take the option of a no-deal off the table.
“He needs to be stopped and I’m appealing to parliamentarians this week to recognise the responsibility collectively that we've all got that when we get back to parliament next week, we have to move fast.
“We are up against a government that are prepared to crash the bus and they must be stopped. We will work with anybody and everybody to stop this and it’s not about who becomes prime minister in the short-term - in many respects we don't even need to do that.
“What we need to do is stop no-deal and we need to stop the damage that Boris Johnson will do. We need to bury our differences and we need to recognise the challenge that we face from someone that's prepared to take us out of the European Union on a no-deal basis.
“We all need to work together, that’s what the public would expect from us. It’s about protecting the interests of all our constituents from Brexit.”
Our chief political commentator John Rentoul has taken a look at the state of play ahead of a week of crucial parliamentary planning by opposition MPs and rebel Tories.
What is the state of play with MPs plotting to block a no-deal Brexit?
Politicians who want to stop Britain leaving the EU without a deal seem increasingly likely to focus their efforts on passing a law to force Boris Johnson’s hand, rather than trying to bring him down.
Boris Johnson claimed at the Biarritz summit that the chances of a new Brexit deal were improving, yet simultaneously claimed it was “touch and go” whether Britain would leave without a deal on 31 October.
If you’re still catching up with all of the prime minister’s G7 shenanigans this bank holiday Monday, here’s a full report from Andrew Woodcock.
Johnson accused of ‘gaslighting’ voters over Brexit deal as EU sources claim he offered nothing new in meeting
Prime minister says it is ‘touch and go’ whether a deal will be reached by the Halloween deadline
Donald Trump has been speaking with Angela Merkel this morning. The US president claimed he and the German chancellor had reached agreement on a lot of things, including trade.
Trump asked Merkel if she was holding a press conference today, and told her he’d like to attend “just to watch”.
Despite the expression of interest in her thoughts, the body language did not look great.
Downing Street has responded quickly to pork pie-gate by referring journalists to comments made by Henry Bowles, export executive at Walker & Son, which makes almost 90 per cent of the Melton Mowbray pies.
Bowles' company said “small shipments” were being sent to Iceland and Thailand – the two countries Boris Johnson claimed were selling the pork pies.
Matthew O’Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association – said earlier that “We don’t actually export to Thailand or to Iceland.”
Downing Street is standing by Boris Johnson’s comments about pork pie exports, according to our political editor Andrew Woodcock in Biarritz.
Officials pointed to published comments from Walker & Son’s export executive Henry Bowles in which he said: “Exports currently account for less than 1 per cent of our annual turnover, with small shipments being sent to Iceland, Thailand, Singapore and the Caribbean. The US has the potential to be a huge exporting opportunity for us and could lead to growth and new jobs at our factory in Leicester.”
A British official said: “The issue that the particular company had faced in the US was around red tape and various food standards particular to the US which made it very, very difficult to get their products in there, but they were able to get them into the other countries that the PM listed.”
He added that Matthew O’Callaghan – the chair of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association who earlier rejected the PM’s remarks – had himself noted that “the prime minister was talking about a great British product on the world stage and there are going to be a lot more people who are knowledgeable about Melton Mowbray pork pies now”.
