This week’s scheduled second round of negotiations in London between the EU and UK on a future trading agreement have been deferred because of coronavirus.

Discussions will move to video or tele-conference format.

Michel Barnier, who heads the EU negotiation, has circulated a draft agreement on a new partnership to the EU Council and Parliament for consideration.

It is understood this is mainly a statement of the EU position on most issues, which isn’t expected to get UK approval.

An exception is fisheries, where it is thought the EU has shown more flexibility to the UK.

The UK government has also confirmed that it will share a draft free trade agreement alongside the draft legal texts of a number of the standalone agreements in the near future.