Boris Johnson has said a post-Brexit trade deal is “looking difficult”, as talks go down to the wire.
There are just 13 days of the UK’s transition period out of the EU remaining.
Earlier on Friday, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned there were “just a few hours” left to reach an agreement with the two sides standing at the “moment of truth”.
The main barrier to a deal being reached appears to be fishing rights, with London and Brussels at odds over how much access the EU will have to UK waters and fish stocks.
The UK’s current trading arrangements with the EU expire at the end of December, meaning any new deal would have to be in place by January 1.
If not, tariffs and quotas will apply and bureaucracy will increase, causing further damage to an economy already ravaged by coronavirus.
Speaking on Friday, Johnson said there was still a “gap that needs to be bridged”.
“The UK’s done a lot to try and help. We hope our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves,” he said.
“The UK’s position is always that we want to keep talking if there is any chance of a deal.”
The prime minister said “no sensible government” would agree to a deal that did not allow the UK to “control its own laws” and its own waters and fishing rights.
“Our door is open,” he said. “We will keep talking. Things are looking difficult.”
Johnson admitted while a no-deal exit would be “difficult at first” the country would still “prosper mightily”.
MPs have been warned they may need to to hastily return to Westminster from the Christmas recess to vote to approve it.
HuffPost UK understands a 50-page “draft future relationship bill” has already been drafted by the government as the clock ticks down.
The current text forms a skeleton to which the details of any last-minute trade agreement can be added.