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A BREXIT trade deal was tantalisingly close last night – but Boris Johnson warned talks could still collapse unless the EU compromises on the issue of fishing.
The negotiations boiled down to the final sticking point as Michel Barnier suggested an agreement could be reached as soon as this afternoon.
Government sources said today will be a ‘crunch moment’ as the EU pushes get a deal agreed so a legal text can be finalised by a new deadline of Sunday.
Lord Frost, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, said: ‘The situation in our talks with the EU is very serious tonight. Progress seems
‘The situation is very serious’
blocked and time is running out.’ In a call last night, the Prime Minister warned European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen he believed negotiations were ‘now in a serious situation’.
‘Time is very short and it now looks very likely agreement will not be reached unless the EU position changes substantially,’ he said.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson had ‘ stressed that the UK could not accept a situation where it was the only sovereign country in the world not able to control access to its own waters for an extended period and to be faced with fisheries quotas which hugely disadvantaged its own industry’.
It is understood Brussels is pushing for an eight-year transition period that would mean the UK would not regain total control of its valuable fishing grounds until 2029. British negotiators had previously offered a three-year period.
No10 said Mr Johnson told Mrs von der Leyen ‘the EU’s position in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was to be an agreement it needed to shift significantly’.
In her own statement, Mrs von der Leyen said there had been ‘substantial progress on many issues’ but that ‘big differences remain to be bridged, in particular on fisheries’.
She added: ‘Bridging them will be very challenging.’
The issue of what should happen if the two sides want to vary their standards on labour, environment and state subsidies in the future – known as the ‘level playing field’ – is understood to be close to being finalised.
However, British negotiators are still pushing back against a demand from Brussels that the European Commission should be exempted from the arrangements on subsidies.
Mr Johnson told Mrs von der Leyen that the EU’s £680million Covid recovery fund should be covered by rules on state subsidies in the trade deal. Brussels has argued it should not be included.
Mr Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, yesterday said it would be ‘difficult but possible’ to hammer out an agreement by this evening. Brussels sources who were previously pessimistic about the chances of a deal revealed they now believe one will be finalised by the end of the weekend.
■ Donald Trump is said to be negotiating with the UK to secure a mini-deal before he leaves the White House. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer suggested tariffs on Scotch could be reduced if a post-Brexit pact is secured.