UK cabinet ministers said they will back Prime Minister Boris Johnson over a no-deal Brexit, The Times reported on Sunday.

A total of 13 cabinet ministers, including eight who opposed Brexit, said they would support no-deal if Johnson concludes that is necessary, the report said.

The news came after Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to resume post-Brexit trade talks during a phone call on Saturday. 

The two leaders agreed that "no agreement is feasible" without movement on three key issues: governance, fisheries and regulations. 

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The pair spoke for around an hour by phone on Saturday afternoon and agreed to make a final push to finalize an agreement ahead of the Brexit transition period ending on December 31.

The high-level political intervention followed deadlocked UK and EU negotiating teams pausing the last-ditch talks late Friday.

Negotiating teams will meet in Brussels on Sunday, and the leaders are expected to speak again on Monday.

Significant differences remain over the level playing field, governance and fisheries, according to a UK-EU joint statement. "Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved," the statement read.

'Failure of statecraft'

Britain formally left the EU in January, nearly four years after a referendum on membership that divided the nation, but has remained bound by most of its rules until the end of the year.

Without a new deal, the bulk of cross-Channel trade will revert to World Trade Organization terms, an unwanted return to tariffs and quotas after almost five decades of deepening economic and political integration.

Talks through this year have finalized most aspects of an agreement, with Britain set to leave the EU single market and customs union, but the most thorny issues have remain unresolved.

"We will see if there is a way forward," EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Saturday. "Work continues tomorrow."

(With input from agencies)