Brexit: Intensive UK-EU trade talks entering ‘last week’, says Dominic Raab
Post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and EU are set to enter the “last week or so” of “substantive” talks, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab.
The UK is set to leave the EU’s single market and customs union on 31 December, leaving little time to close a Brexit trade deal and get it ratified by the European Parliament.
Future fishing arrangements in UK waters has been one of the largest barriers to a deal.
The foreign secretary reiterated in an interview with Sky News that Brussels must climb down from its demands on access to UK fisheries and that leaving without a trade deal was a very real possibility.
“As we leave the transition [period], we are an independent coastal state – we’ve got to be able to control our waters,” he said.
“We can talk about transitions and things like that and we recognise the impact it has on other countries around Europe.
“But that principle comes with sovereignty, comes with leaving not just the EU but the transition period.
“I think the answer is, can the EU accept that point of principle that comes with us leaving the political club?”
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s starting position in talks with the UK was that Brussels wanted EU countries to retain the same rights to fish in British waters as they had prior to Brexit.
This was turned down by UK chief negotiator David Frost, who said on many occasions that the UK will be a “independent coastal state” from next year.
Frost has pushed for a “zonal” arrangement, which would see EU countries allowed only a certain amount of fish from UK waters every year.
The UK also wants this arrangement to be re-negotiated on a regular basis.
It is believed that Barnier is now demanding for the EU to keep around 80 per cent of its current access to UK waters.