Draft free trade deal is published
POLITICS: The UK has published its terms for a free trade agreement with the European Union as it looks to ramp up pressure on Brussels to back down over its demands.
Minister Michael Gove said the Government is making public the UK’s draft legal texts, which includes a draft comprehensive free trade agreement.
THE UK has published its terms for a free trade agreement with the European Union as it looks to ramp up pressure on Brussels to back down over its demands.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove told MPs the Government had decided to make public the UK’s draft legal texts, with a 291-page draft comprehensive free trade agreement among the 12 documents published.
Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has also published the tariff schedule the UK would operate at the end of the transition period for those countries with whom the UK does not have a free trade agreement.
The moves by Ministers come after the third round of talks between UK and EU negotiators, charged with thrashing out postBrexit trade terms, once again ended in stalemate last week.
Sticking points include how fishing access will work after the transition period ends in December and the bloc’s call for Britain to continue following level-playing field arrangements.
Making the UK’s proposition public on a host of topics, ranging from energy to law enforcement, means all 27 EU member states can see the offer on the table, not just the European Commission, which is conducting the talks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters at a briefing that the documents were published as a “constructive contribution to the negotiations” and to ensure they were “available to all and so that the Commission can share the text with the member states”.
But he added: “We are not seeking to negotiate directly with member states and never have.”
Mr Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told the House of Commons that the EU wanted the UK to continue to follow its rules while itself refusing to row back on fishing rights.
“The EU essentially wants us to obey the rules of their club even though we’re no longer members and they want the same access to our fishing grounds as they currently enjoy, while restricting our access to their markets,” he said when answering an urgent question on the third round of talks.
He added: “To help facilitate discussions in the fourth round and beyond, the Government has today published the full draft legal text that we’ve already shared with the Commission and which,
Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
together with the EU’s draft agreement, have formed the basis of all discussions.”
The former Justice Secretary said success in the fourth round of the talks, due to start on June 1, “depends on the EU recognising that the UK is sovereign”.
The UK’s chief negotiator David Frost, in a four-page letter to his EU counterpart Michel Barnier, highlighted a number of areas where his team thought Brussels was not acting in good faith during the talks. He also argued “rapid” progress could be made if the bloc was willing to offer terms similar to those found in free trade agreements it had already ratified with third countries such as Canada and Japan.
Mr Barnier tweeted to say he welcomed the “transparency” shown by the UK in publishing its draft documents, noting that the commission had made a similar move “over two months ago”.
But, in a sign the EU does not have plans to back down from some of its key demands, he added: “In the next round, we must make tangible progress across all areas, including level-playing field and governance.”
Ms Truss, in an earlier announcement yesterday, confirmed that post-Brexit tariffs will see duties axed on around £62bn worth of imports, while tariffs will also be protected for industries such as agriculture, automotive and fishing.
The EU essentially wants us to obey the rules of their club.