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The UK is close to abandoning a trade deal with the EU, according to reports. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ministers now believe Britain and the EU will fall short of agreeing a post-Brexit trade deal, so says the Daily Telegraph. Just a few days remain before the Government’s July deadline for an outline agreement passes.

Now, the Government’s “central working assumption” is that Britain will trade with Europe on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms when the transition period ends on December 31.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, arrived in London last week with his Brussels entourage.

His short visit marked the start of the latest round of negotiations.

The EU and the UK are at a deadlock over certain Brexit rights.

For example, fishing, so-called level playing field guarantees, governance of the deal, and the role of the European Court of Justice.

The stall has led many to reason a deal may be entirely out of the question.

Instead, some sort of “basic agreement” is likely to be drawn up.

Businesses have already been told to start preparing for a no trade deal exit.

And, there is no chance of an extension to the transition period, as Mr Johnson has repeatedly ruled one out.

Things were less clear last year, when many Remainers believed that Brexit might not go ahead.

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This was especially true when former Liberal Democrat MEP Caroline Voaden appeared on the BBC’s Question Time alongside Tory Lord and staunch Brexiteer Norman Lamont.

The pair found themselves at loggerheads over Ms Voaden’s comments on a trade deal.

She claimed it would take years to secure free trade deals with countries outside the EU.

Lord Lamont pounced on the opportunity to pull Ms Voaden up on her party’s voting record.

He said: “But Caroline, if you say the best deal is the one we’ve got, remaining in the EU, why on Earth did the Liberal Democrat party ever vote for a referendum in the first place?

“Why did the party say in the referendum campaign: ‘your result will be respected?’

“If you’d made up your mind that the referendum was irrelevant and the best deal was to remain, why on Earth did you support a referendum in the first place?”

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He continued: “The Liberal Democrat party actually staged a walk out in the House of Commons because the Government wasn’t holding a referendum to leave the EU.

“Why do that and then turn around and say ‘it doesn’t matter how you voted?’”

Here, Ms Voaden replied: “All the people who have supported Leave like the Brexit Party and the Conservative Party have been arguing for three years about what Leave looks like.

“But they have still not come up with a deal that can pass through the House of Commons.

“I think that says all you need to know about how good that deal is.”

Lord Lamont asked: “Why did you support a referendum if you didn’t think it was a good idea to leave?”

It is true that the Lib Dems in the past queried the necessity of the UK’s being in the EU.

In 2007 Vince Cable, who at the time was acting party leader, wrote that the Liberal Democrats wanted to table a motion in parliament calling for “for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union”.

The party then published a leaflet which has been dated to around 2008 saying it wanted a referendum, that the Labour party did not, and that the Conservatives only wanted a “limited” referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

The leaflet added that the Lib Dems wanted to stay in Europe.

Nick Clegg, then party leader in 2008, went as far as to say that “nobody in this country under the age of 51 has ever been asked that simple question. That includes half of all MPs. We’ve been signed up to Europe by default: two generations who have never had their say.”

Even Jo Swinson – the Lib Dems short lived leader in last year – in 2008, said “the Liberal Democrats would like to have a referendum on the major issue of whether we are in or out of Europe.”

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