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Good morning, and it feels like another Groundhog Day in the UK-EU trade talks as the last deadline passes and the talks move forward. There are some signs of progress, although reporting on this story is hampered by the fact that very little has emerged about what is actually on the table in the talks (we are only receiving widespread reports from both sides, which are not always consistent ; no one has seen the text of the most contentious proposals) and by the fact that the UK government in particular appears to be engaged in a gigantic exercise of expectations management. (Managing expectations is much less of an issue for the EU, partly because Brexit is not a priority for the public in most EU countries and partly because, as Brexiters liked to remind us in 2016 , the commission has not been elected anyway).
Here’s our story overnight by Daniel boffey and Jessica Elgot.
This morning Michel barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, told reporters that a deal was still possible. He said:
We are going to give every opportunity to this agreement … which is still possible. A good and balanced agreement.
Two conditions are not yet met. Free and fair competition … and an agreement that guarantees reciprocal access to markets and waters. And it is at these points that we have not found the right balance with the British. So we continue working.
Barnier spoke before a private meeting, where he briefed the EU ambassadors on the process. Reuters recently shelved this account of what was said.
Britain and the EU made some limited progress in their trade talks, the bloc’s Brexit negotiator said on Monday, but they remain at odds with state aid provisions and have again distanced themselves on fisheries, according to a senior Brussels diplomat. .
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity after negotiator Michel Barnier updated the 27 national envoys to the EU hub in Brussels on Monday morning.
The diplomat said there was “some limited progress” in the enforcement mechanism, but there was disagreement over state aid and “backlash” in fishing.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Sir Keir Starmer presents his ‘Call Keir’ phone call on LBC.
9.30 am: The ONS publishes a report on the impact of the coronavirus on different ethnic groups.
9.30 am: The ONS publishes figures on deaths of homeless people.
10.30am: Professor Sir Michael Marmot publishes a report covering the impact of Covid on health inequalities.
12:00 pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily briefing in the lobby.
12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s Prime Minister, is expected to hold her daily briefing on the coronavirus.
12:15 PM: The Welsh government is expected to hold a coronavirus briefing.
2.30pm: Priti Patel, Home Secretary, answers questions in the Commons.
2.30pm: High-level officials give testimony to the Commons public accounts committee on the hiring of PPCs during the pandemic.
After 3.30 pm: Members discuss the Lords’ amendments to the Internal Market Bill.
Politics Live is now doubling down as the UK’s coronavirus live blog and given the way the Covid crisis overshadows everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we’ll also cover non-Covid political stories, like Brexit, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
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