Stubborn Brussels leaves UK with little hope of deal
BRITAIN is heading for a no-deal by Christmas because Brussels has refused to withdraw its unreasonable demands, a source close to UK chief negotiator Lord Frost has said.
Yesterday evening, after nine months of talks, the two sides had failed to make enough progress on the level playing field provisions and fishing row to make a deal.
If no deal is the outcome, the UK will be doing business with the EU on Australian terms under World Trade Organization rules in the new year.
But 58 trade deals are already in place with other countries and talks with America, Australia and New Zealand are well advanced.
As EU countries have a £70billion trade surplus with Britain it means that they face paying billions more in tariffs than British firms.
Just over two weeks ago, when a deal appeared to be close, extra demands by French president Emmanuel Macron scuppered a chance of a compromise, it was said.
The Government source said the intransigence of European leaders, as well as the EU negotiating team led by Michel Barnier, had so far resulted in deadlock.
They said: “We need to get any deal right and based on terms which respect what the British people voted for. Unfortunately, the EU are still struggling to get the flexibility needed from member states and are continuing to make demands that are incompatible with our independence.
“We cannot accept a deal that doesn’t leave us in control of our own laws or waters. We’re continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the Commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on December 31.”
The move will be a relief to Brexiteer MPS who had been concerned about Parliament being recalled and asked to agree the deal with just two or three days to scrutinise it.
They had feared Boris Johnson would cave in to demands, including imposing tough competition rules on the UK. The EU had also sought to continue to be able to access Britain’s fish stocks.
Members of the European Research Group had been considering a plan to vote down the deal and force the Government to return to it in 2021. Meanwhile, others including North West Leicestershire MP
Andrew Bridgen, one of the so-called Spartans who held out against Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, wanted the Government to use WTO rules to extend a tariff-free period. This would allow MPS in Westminster and the European Parliament time to scrutinise the bill.
A former cabinet minister and leading Brexiteer told the Sunday Express that the talks will fail because neither side wants to lose face.
He added that there is “no anxiety” on the Tory benches about no-deal.
He said: “There’s going to be disruption but frankly there’s disruption at the moment with all the problems over ports. We’ve got disruption with Covid as well.”
Barrie Deas, chief executive of the
National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, made it clear they were willing to compromise.
He said: “We just want the same relationship with the EU that normal coastal states have with each other when they share fish stocks. The norm between coastal states is for annual negotiations to take place. I think there is a deal to be had.”
Meanwhile former trade minister and CBI director general Lord Digby Jones said: “The EU’S attempt to punish the UK has failed; it is important we trade as friends in the future not as countries full of resentment of each other. Therein lies the very conflicts that the EU was designed to prevent in the first place.”
‘We’re trying every path’