News

Johnson: Germany deadlock unlikely to affect Brexit negotiations

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a plenary session of German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, yesterday. Picture by Michael Kappeler, dpa via Associated Press
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a plenary session of German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, yesterday. Picture by Michael Kappeler, dpa via Associated Press German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a plenary session of German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, yesterday. Picture by Michael Kappeler, dpa via Associated Press

Germany will not be "incapacitated" from negotiating a post-Brexit free trade deal with Britain despite the breakdown of talks to form a new government, Boris Johnson has said.

Britain's foreign secretary was asked whether the collapse of coalition discussions between German chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and two smaller parties would result in the UK needing more time to secure a deal.

But Mr Johnson said he did not believe the German government would be "incapacitated" from upcoming Brexit negotiations in December or in securing "a great free trade deal" in the next 18 months.

During Foreign Office questions in the Commons, Conservative MP Vicky Ford asked: "With the coalition talks breaking down in Germany and the increasing possibility of the need for a second German election, and given that any new UK-EU trade deal needs a unanimous consent for its mandate from all EU governments, is the foreign secretary being advised that we may need a bit more time to secure a new trade deal?"

Mr Johnson said it was "a very thoughtful question about what is happening in Germany", but added: "I don't, as it happens, think that the German government will be in any way incapacitated either from negotiations in December or from going forward to do a great free trade deal with the UK in the course of the next 18 months."

Four weeks of talks on a potential coalition collapsed on Sunday, leaving a new election in Germany as the most likely outcome, although there is a chance that a minority government will be formed.