Talks on post-Brexit trade deal to continue, Johnson and von der Leyen agree

Talks on a post-Brexit trade deal will continue, Boris Johnson has agreed with European Union chiefs.

The Prime Minister spoke to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to extend the deadline for negotiations to continue.

In a joint statement they agreed to "go the extra mile" in an effort to find a solution after almost a year of negotiations.

The statement said: "We had a useful phone call this morning. We discussed the major unresolved topics.

"Our negotiating teams have been working day and night over recent days.

"And despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.

"We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached."