Barnier draws line on fishing rights in talks

Britain can have sovereignty over its water but the fish are “another story” said Michel Barnier. The EU’S chief negotiator said Britain had shown no willingness to compromise over fishing rights and warned that unless the UK caved there would be no trade deal with the EU. “Obviously the UK will recover the full sovereignty of their waters. No doubt. No question. But it is another thing, another story, speaking about the fish which are inside those waters,” he said.

MICHEL BARNIER has told Britain it can have sovereignty over its waters but the fish are “another story” as he claimed the UK is holding EU fishermen hostage.

The EU’S chief negotiator said Britain had shown no willingness to compromise over fishing rights and warned that unless the UK caved there would be no trade deal with the EU.

“Obviously the UK will recover the full sovereignty of their waters. No doubt. No question. But it is another thing, another story, speaking about the fish which are inside those waters,” he said before next week’s round of negotiations in London.

Mr Barnier hit back after the Prime Minister’s spokesman blamed Brussels for the lack of progress in last week’s round of negotiations yesterday.

“Where the EU has shown openness to possible solutions, the UK has shunned our offers,” Mr Barnier said in a speech to an Irish think tank, where he insisted the deal had to be ready by the end of October.

He demanded “credible guarantees” from Britain on state aid such as subsidies and that the UK agree to level playing field guarantees in tax, labour rights and the environment.

He said the Government was trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage over EU businesses in sectors such as cars, road haulage, agriculture and manufacturing by undercutting the bloc’s standards. Mr Barnier warned there would be a “huge difference” between striking a trade deal and a nodeal exit at the end of the transition period on Dec 31.

“Sometimes I listen to the UK speaking on the chance of no deal, the reporting of no deal. Good luck. Good luck. But frankly speaking there is no reason to underestimate the consequences for many people,” he said.

No deal would be Britain’s fault because the government had refused to extend the transition period, he said. The French official added that the UK had not tabled any new legal texts on fishing rights. Media reports that he had blocked any discussion on UK “room papers” were “ridiculous” and “contrary to the truth”, he said.

Mr Barnier has signalled that the EU could drop its demand for continued access to UK waters under the same terms as it enjoys under the bloc’s Common Fisheries Policy.

A UK source said: “Barnier’s speech is a deliberate and misleading caricature of our proposals aimed at deflecting scrutiny from the EU’S own positions which are wholly unrealistic and unprecedented.”

Mr Barnier, who met David Frost, the UK’S negotiator, yesterday, said he still hoped to agree a deal “even if it is very difficult because of the British politicians.”

He said that despite the “current tensions”, he still hoped a deal could be done in time.