EU’s Barnier Plays Down Whatever Brexit Hopes Were Left

The UK opposition parties and some Tory rebels voted to make it illegal to leave the EU without a Brexit deal earlier this month, which increased hopes for a Brexit deal being reached at some point. But, the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier just diminished those hopes during his speech a while ago. Below are Barnier’s comments:

• Right now we have no basis for a deal but we will continue to talk
• We can’t pick and choose when it comes to protecting the single market and consumers
• Hard to see how we can arrive at a solution that fulfills all the objectives of the backstop
• UK proposals on border between Ireland and Northern Ireland are unacceptable

The options are left open as always, but there’s no solution to be found. It seems like Brexit will be postponed again at the end of October, but I don’t see what can change, so both parties come to an agreement. The GBP turned sort of bearish after this and I assume that these sort of comments will keep it like that for the coming months.