Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has now arrived at the EU summit in Brussels. Speaking to reporters on her way in, she said talks with Boris Johnson last night were “good … but it is difficult”.

“I had a very long conversation yesterday night with Boris Johnson. It was a good conversation. But it is difficult,” she said.

“We are willing to grant access to the single market to our British friends. It’s the biggest largest single market in the world. But the conditions have to be fair. They have to be fair for our workers and for our companies, and this fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far.”

She added: “Our negotiators are still working. And we will take a decision on Sunday.”

Arriving at a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, European Council president Charles Michel said EU leaders would be briefed on the Brexit negotiations but would not have a “long debate” about it at the Brussels summit.

Arriving for the two-day meeting, Mr Michel said: “On Brexit, negotiations are still ongoing. We trust the commission – we will have a short debrief from the commission.

“We will not have a long debate on Brexit and we will defend our European interests.”

It comes after reports yesterday confirmed that the 27 leaders had agreed not to have a Brexit-related debate at the two-day event, dashing hopes some had for any last-minute concessions to be discussed between all member states.

The Economist’s Matthew Holehouse has published excerpts of the EU’s 12-page contingency plans, highlighting measures the UK is unlikely to agree with:

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda has said the EU needed to be ready to put no-deal plans in place from 1 January.

Arriving at a summit in Brussels, he told reporters: “So far, negotiations are still in the process and we hope very much that we will have a deal.”

But if not, contingency plans should be in place “and we have to be ready to implement it from the first minute”.

Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt has indicated that Sunday is not a hard deadline for a Brexit trade deal.

Asked by eurosceptic MP Peter Bone whether 13 December was the final deadline for talks, Ms Mordaunt told the House of Commons: “There is a very, very firm deadline which is the end of this year.

“We will carry on negotiating until there is no hope left.

“The statement made yesterday would indicate that Sunday, unless there is progress made, may well be that deadline.”

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab similarly said earlier he “could not categorically rule out” the possibility that talks would extend past Sunday.

This is despite the fact a No 10 spokesman said last night: “[Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen] had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides.

“They agreed that chief negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday.”

Our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, explains the realities of comments made by Dominic Raab this morning about the “curbs” UK residents will face when trying to travel to the EU post-Brexit:

Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven has said he feels more “gloomy” about the state of Brexit trade talks following Wednesday night’s meeting between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen.

“It’s a difficult situation,” he told reporters as he arrived at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

Mr Lofven said: “I’m a bit more gloomy today. As far as I can hear there is no progress made in the recent days. It’s problematic, of course, so that is a huge challenge.”

“We have always said that we are preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best,” he added.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves has said MPs and the general public heard more last night about what Boris Johnson ate, alongside Ursula von der Leyen, than “we did about his deal”.

She told the House of Commons that there is an overwhelming sense of “dismay” that progress was not made between the UK and EU leaders on Wednesday night, at their make-or-break dinner in Brussels.

The shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told MPs today: “The country was hoping for a breakthrough last night, yet there was none. There is a sense of huge dismay as we all wanted to hear significant progress but we heard more about the prime minister’s meal than we did about his deal.

“In fact, we have not heard from the prime minister at all, even though he was supposed to be taking charge of these negotiations.”

She highlighted that by Sunday – the new deadline for achieving a trade agreement – “we’ll have just 18 days to go until the end of the transition period”. 

“How has it come to this?,” she asked, adding: “Businesses desperately trying to plan need to know what on earth is going on.”

She finished by asking a serious of questions: “If the talks break down and government pursues no-deal, what happens next? Will the government look to swiftly restart negotiations or does the government believe there should be no talks next year, or even for the rest of this parliament? Or, have the government not thought that far ahead?”

The European Commission has brought forward new contingency plans for a no-deal, warning that the risk of an agreement not being reached is now “significant”.

The package contains regulations to ensure flights can continue between the UK and EU, as well as “basic road connectivity”, with an initial six month duration. But it also includes a plan to allow continued “reciprocal access” for fishing fleet operate in British and European waters, that is likely to prove more controversial with Brexiteers.

Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has more: