Angela Merkel shows her Brexit panic by making same EU no deal plea for third day in a row

For the third day in a row, the German Chancellor insisted the bloc should be ready for Britain leaving its single market and customs union with no free-trade agreement in place. She said negotiations between the EU and UK had been accelerated and vowed to work towards a “good solution”. Speaking in the Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house, Mrs Merkel said: “With Great Britain we have agreed to speed up these negotiations to be able to agree on a deal in the autumn, which would then have to be ratified until the end of the year.

“I will continue to campaign for a good solution. But I have to add that we in the EU and in Germany, on all levels of our state, have to prepare for the case that there will be no agreement after this issue, that is worth defending the European idea.

“It is worth it to keep our Europe together. This is what I stand for. This unity will be more important than ever.”