Brexit talks stuck: EU asking too much, says UK

Brexit trade talks are stuck on fishing, governance rules and dispute resolution because the European Union is asking too much of Britain, a senior member of the British government said on Tuesday.Just 30 days before Britain leaves the EU’s orbit following a transition period since it formally quit the bloc, the sides are trying to agree a trade deal to avoid a turbulent rupture that could snarl almost $1 trillion in annual trade.

With each side urging the other to compromise, a French official said Britain must clarify its positions and “really negotiate”, and cautioned that the EU would not accept a “substandard deal”.Even if a trade accord is secured, it is likely to be just a narrow deal on goods, and some disruption is almost certain as border controls are erected between the world’s biggest trading block and Britain.“The EU still wants to take the lion’s share of the fishing in our waters - which is just not fair given that we are leaving the EU,” Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and a senior ally of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, told Sky.

A trade deal would not only safeguard trade but also buttress peace in British-ruled Northern Ireland, though some disruption is almost certain at the busiest EU-UK border points. Gove said the process was close to conclusion but avoided repeating an earlier prediction of a 66% probability of a deal. He declined to put a figure on the probability.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful national leader, has said some of the EU’s 27 member states are getting impatient.“The priority is for the British to clarify their positions and really negotiate to find a deal,” a French presidency official told Reuters. “The EU also has interests to fight for, those of a fair competition for its businesses and those of its fishermen.”