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The UK’s Brexit envoy Lord Frost was said to be prepared to reduce his demands for future fishing quotas if Brussels agrees to backtrack on other areas of the deal. Sources close to the talks say the UK is now willing to accept between 30 and 35 per cent of the £ 590 million worth of fish caught by European vessels in our coastal waters this year. Downing Street previously insisted on recovering up to 60 per cent for British fishermen and the EU set the price of a deal at 25 per cent.
EU officials have been floating the compromise in hardline states such as France and Denmark to establish whether Michel Barnier has more leeway.
But there are fears that the dispute may still collapse over EU demands to slap Britain with punitive tariffs if the government decides to restrict European ships’ access to UK waters.
The two parties have yet to agree on the duration of a transition period, during which the generous catch quotas enjoyed by European trawlers would be gradually reduced.
Britain has said it would agree to a three-year period while the EU called for new agreements to be phased in over seven years.
But the two parties could find themselves in the middle with a five-year transition period.
Government sources rejected claims that the UK has offered concessions on fishing quotas to secure a deal.
The claim was dismissed by UK sources, who said they “don’t acknowledge those reports at all”.
The chances of the compromise offer ending in a deal are up to Emmanuel Macron, according to EU diplomats.
One said the French president would block any future concessions because he believes that too much ground has already been given on the totemic issue.
French Minister for Europe, Clement Beaune, said: “There have been successive UK proposals, sometimes on fisheries, that do not respond to European priorities and demands.
“There are still difficulties in the fishing sector, but not only, so it would be an error of judgment and an unacceptable stigmatization to say that a few countries or a few sectors are blocking.”
Boris Johnson warned Brussels last night that Britain will walk away without a deal if it refuses to compromise in the final days of the talks.
The prime minister said negotiations are stalled and told the EU that it must accept that the UK will take control of its laws and borders.
Speaking from issue 10, he insisted that the country “can certainly cope” with any difficulties caused by moving to the rules of the world trade organization as of January 1.
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Lord Frost will continue talks with the EU negotiator, Mr Barnier tomrrow, in Brussels with only There are nine days left for the transition agreements to expire.
But sources close to the negotiations said the discussions remained “difficult” with fishing and state subsidies still holding back the deal.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said “obviously there is very little time” to reach an agreement.
“We will need to ratify any agreement before January 1. The leader of the House made it clear that we would remove Parliament so that the deputies could vote on the necessary legislation, ”he added.
“We have made it clear at this point that we will either exit the transition period on December 31 with a free trade agreement or we will go with the terms of the WTO Australia-style. That is still the case. “
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