BREXIT TALKS COULD GO ON AFTER XMAS
EU ‘has to give ground for deal’
BREXIT trade talks may grind on through Christmas and go to the wire on December 31 as the UK tries to get Brussels to budge on key stumbling blocks.
Britain’s chief negotiator Lord Frost will sit down with EU counterpart Michel Barnier again today.
A deadline of last night for a deal set by the European Parliament passed with no sign of progress.
No10 continued to be gloomy but some insiders suggested it was a negotiating strategy.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Brussels has to withdraw “unreasonable demands” on fishing and competition rules.
He said: “We want these talks to reach a positive conclusion. Unfortunately, the EU has put in some unreasonable demands. I am sure a deal can be done but obviously it needs movement on the EU side.”
Brussels has denied it has changed its list of demands and is just looking out for its own interests. Mr Barnier said: “Both must have the right to set their own laws and control their own waters.” Cabinet minister Michael Gove has suggested the two sides could sign a series of “mini- deals” to prevent chaos if talks end in failure. He previously warned a deal is “realistically” unlikely to be signed off until after Christmas. MEPs had said they needed to see the terms of any agreement by last night if they were going to be able to ratify it before the end of the year. But EU leaders could provisionally sign off a deal if talks go right up until the transition period ends on December 31, with formal ratification in the new year.
■ British firms face £34billion in costs for transporting goods in Europe after the transition period ends, tax specialist VAT IT warns.
FISHING is Boris Johnson’s Brexit red herring when Harrods is worth more to the UK economy.
Admitting the London store generates more value than fishing’s £436million isn’t to chuck our trawlermen overboard. That would be wrong, particularly when my nephew works on the boats.
The 12,000 fisher folk aren’t threatened by an EU trade deal. But no-deal would be disastrous for them too when more than half of catches are exported to the Continent. Also endangered are livelihoods in the car industry and wider manufacturing. I recall Professor Patrick Minford, in a small band of economists who backed Brexit, blithely admitting that leaving the EU would “mostly eliminate manufacturing” here.
The PM’s wriggling to get himself off a fish hook, as usual promising what’s undeliverable. If talks fail due to his stupidity and stubbornness, we all go down with the ship.