The European Union are risking collapsing post-Brexit trade talks with HM’s government over their continued and persistent demand for EU member states to have full access to British fishing waters.
Despite this, the calls have been repeatedly rejected by the British side, a UK negotiating source has insisted “an independent state has independent control over coastal waters”.
If the EU does not abandon their continued demands for access to British fishing waters, the United Kingdom could bring an end to the post-Brexit negotiations seeing British fishing waters as the red line that must not be crossed.
A UK source close to the negotiations said that the EU’s red line was going to need to change, otherwise the talks could be terminated in June.
The source said: “There are some fundamentals that we’re not going to change, nor going to move on. Because they are not so much negotiating positions as they’re sort of what an independent state does”
“An independent state has independent control over coastal waters,”
The source added: “what we are wanting now is an EU understanding that we are not going to subordinate our laws to them in any areas”.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has pulled no punches in blaming the UK claiming the British are wasting time in the trade negotiations, after another round of talks he criticised British negotiators for failing to present a text on fisheries for negotiations.
British sources said there was no point presenting a text when the two sides were “talking across each other”.
Downing Street has not stayed quiet with them calling on EU national leaders to intervene to break the deadlock in the talks, however, this is not expected to happen before June when a joint conference will be held to evaluate progress towards the agreement.
The source said that the UK would consider walking away in June and begin preparing for a no-trade deal exit at the end of the transition period.
“We do need to prepare for the end of the transition period, focus on that as well. If we don’t look like we are going to get a deal that will become the primary focus of effort,” the source said.
The deadline to finalise the post-Brexit negotiations by the end of this year when the transition period is set to end, is under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic. The transition period has deep-frozen the UK’s membership of the Single Market and Customs Union.
The Prime Minister has vowed not to extend the transition period, despite this has been EU calling for delays on numerous occasions the UK has yet to accept any such offer. If a deal cannot be brokered by the end of the transition period, the UK and EU will be bound to trade on World Trade Organisation (WTO) Rules.
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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