EU lead Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has delivered his reflections on Brexit lecture to the Queen’s Management School’s William J Clinton Leadership Institute at Queens University Belfast.

He said he would “engage respectfully with UK negotiators, who represent a great country” and that there would be “no aggressiveness, no punishment, no spirit of revenge” in the upcoming negotiation on a future relationship with the UK.

He pulled no punches in saying that, whatever agreement is reached on future trading relationship, it would be “damage limitation”.

Irish protocol

He recognised that the Irish protocol in the withdrawal agreement means that the UK has agreed to a system of reinforced checks and controls for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain and that these were “consequences that we must manage” and these would include sanitary and phyto-sanitary checks on food products and live animals.

He also warned that the agreement must be implemented with “rigour and discipline by all sides” and that it “cannot be re-opened under the guise of implementation”.

The UK cannot expect high-quality access to our single market if it insists on competing on state aid, social or environmental standards

On the issue of a future trading agreement with the UK, the chief negotiator was frank in saying that "the UK cannot expect high-quality access to our single market if it insists on competing on state aid, social or environmental standards”.

He noted the recent comments by Chancellor Sajid Javid and emphasised that the EU’s ambition to create a close economic partnership with the UK requires a level playing field.

In a follow-up question, Barnier said: “There will be no compromise on the single market – never, never, never.”