The foreign ministers of Ireland and Germany pledged not to give up on an accord until the end. Simon Coveney warned the EU that, if no deal were agreed, the bloc should not assume the UK would soon come crawling back.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Friday that, if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, it is bad news for all concerned.

Speaking alongside his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, Coveney also warned the European Union against overconfidence. He downplayed suggestions that leaving without a deal could prove so problematic for the UK that it would be forced back into talks with the EU to rectify the situation in short order, with an even weaker hand than at present.

"Anybody who thinks no deal now is in the EU's strategic interests because in six or 12 months time, when we start talking to the UK about putting in place a new agreement, that somehow the EU's hand will be strengthened, I don't think that shows an understanding of a British mindset," Coveney told a news conference in Berlin.

Possibly related: The 2021-2026 EU UK Trade war