A UK-EU Brexit deal will be struck within days, the Irish Foreign Minister has claimed.
Last ditch talks went into the early hours overnight, with the result appearing to be a renewed confidence that a deal could be done.
“There’s a good chance we can get a deal across the line in the next few days,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Newstalk radio. “We are in the space of days not weeks,” he added.
His words come after the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned the next 24 hours would be absolutely crucial in the fight for a UK-EU deal.
A deal within days would be bad news for France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly urged Barnier to walk away from talks in the hope of forcing the UK to either back down or suffer a no deal.
But Barnier seems to be taking a more pragmatic approach than the French would like, opting to find common consensus and get a deal done before the Brexit transition period ends on December 1.
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- Chris Bradford
'MINI BREXIT': STATUE OF THATCHER DIVIDES HOMETOWN
A statue commemorating Margaret Thatcher has divided her home town of Grantham.
The monument was rejected by Westminster in 2018 amid fears that it would a target for vandalism, so it was offered to the Lincolnshire town.
The council's decision to underwrite a £100,000 unveiling ceremony this week has reignited the debate on whether the statue should be erected.
Les Steptoe, chair of Grantham Labour, told the Guardian: "We find that in the middle of a pandemic, when the public coffers both on a national level and a local level, are emptying very quickly, their sense of priorities to be absolutely perverse.”
“She was arguably the most divisive prime minister this country’s has ever had and this is an incredibly divisive decision by the local Tories.”
Amanda Schonhut, director of fundraising at Grantham museum, branded the issue as a "mini Brexit".
- Chris Bradford
A FIFTH OF UK EXPORTERS AVOID EU AMID BREXIT UNCERTAINTY
Nearly one in five British exporters (18 per cent) have already changed trading partners to divert business outside of the EU, a study has found.
An estimated £50bn of exports have been diverted since the Brexit referendum in 2016, a report by Lloyds Bank and Aston business school revealed.
Gwynne Master, global head of trade for Lloyds Bank, said: "This year in particular, our business customers have faced a myriad of challenges not least of which is the global pandemic.
"Despite this, businesses are taking big strategic steps that will change the shape of their import and export business and the future of this great trading nation for years and decades to come.”
The report revealed that Brexit uncertainty has opened up trade relationships with markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Yahoo reports.
- John Hall
EXPLAINER: WHAT IS A NO DEAL BREXIT?
The UK and EU are locked in trade talks over what the future relationship will look like.
There are only 28 days until the end of the transition period and a deal is yet to be agreed.
The EU and Britain still disagree over future arrangements for areas such as fisheries, state aid and financial services – potentially jeopardising the prospect of a deal.
The trade talks could break down, but what would that mean for Brits?
Check out our handy explainer HERE.
- John Hall
EU DIPLOMAT: GAPS TO BRIDGE IN TRADE TALKS 'STILL SUBSTANTIAL'
The UK and the European Union still need to bridge "quite substantial" gaps in their trade talks, a diplomat has said.
Negotiators are trying to hash out a deal but the thorny issues of fishing, the level playing field, and dispute resolution remain stumbling blocks.
"We are not hours away from a deal, what we still need to agree is quite substantial,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier today, Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney said that there was a "good chance" a deal could be reached in the coming days.
- John Hall
QUEUES COULD FORM ON THE M6
Queues of lorries could form on the M6 motorway when a new Brexit customs facility opens in Cheshire next month.
Some freight from Ireland will use the "inland border" in Warrington when the transition period ends on December 31.
Warrington council chief executive Steven Broomhead said the government should spend £2.5m improving the roads to avoid "gridlock".
The border post is being located inland as the ports at Liverpool, Heysham and Holyhead do not have the capacity to expand customs infrastructure.
The council expects up to 700 lorries passing through the site each day.
- John Hall
SUPERMARKET BOSS CALLS FOR GREATER CLARITY
Moving goods across borders after Brexit will be the biggest challenge come January 1, the chief executive of Tesco has warned.
Tesco will continue to operate whether Britain secures a free trade deal with the EU or not, but Ken Murphy says he remain worried about the movement of stock into the country.
He told Sky: "The biggest challenge we face really is the movement of product between borders, the movement of product between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of course between mainland Europe and the UK.
"That is the one area where we really would urge the government to give us some clarity and to allow us to prepare even better for the end of December," he said.
- John Hall
BRITAIN DELIBERATELY BROKE AWAY FROM EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCY IN A BID TO APPROVE COVID VACCINE FASTER
Britain deliberately broke away from the European Medicines Agency control for vaccine approval in October – meaning the UK could rubber stamp the jab quicker.
Any EU member could in theory do this, but Brussels ordered the 27 remaining EU countries to form a united vaccine policy and wait for central approval.
Yesterday Germany acknowledged that this diktat has meant a slower rollout of the virus fighter.
Their health minister Jens Spahn said: “What we opted for was a common European approach to move forward together.”
Read more HERE
- John Hall
HOW WILL BREXIT AFFECT THE PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFER WINDOW?
New regulations will come into force as a result of Britain's exit from the European Union.
Premier League clubs will be unable to sign players freely from the EU as the UK will no longer be a member of the single market.
Clubs will be limited to three under-21 signings each.
Foreign players will have to gain points in order to be able to play in the UK.
The criteria is based on the player's international appearance and their country's FIFA ranking.
Players from EU countries will not be allowed to be signed without a work permit, while clubs are banned from signing foreign players under the age of 18.
- John Hall
BRITAIN'S 'INEPT AND DISRESPECTFUL HANDLING' OF NORTHERN IRELAND 'HAS PUT UNITED IRELAND CENTRE STAGE'
The Government's "inept and disrespectful handling" of Northern Ireland during the Brexit talks has put the case for a United Ireland "centre stage", a campaign group has said.
Ireland's Future believes a united Ireland could be achieved as a result of referenda in the North and the Republic, similar to those held for the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish News reports.
A report titled the Conversation on Ireland's Future reveals that discussions around Irish unity should not fall into "lazy language about division".
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has ruled out a border poll within the next five years arguing it would be "volatile and divisive".
- John Hall
EU, UK NEGOTIATORS TO ASSESS STATE OF PLAY EITHER TODAY OR TOMORROW
British and EU negotiators will review the progress made in trade talks either on Thursday or Friday, according to officials within the bloc.
Three EU diplomats said separately that they hoped Michel Barnier and Lord David Frost could agree a deal as soon as Friday or at the weekend.
An unnamed source said the next 24-48 hours would be crucial towards reaching a free trade deal.
Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney said earlier today that there's a "good chance" an agreement between the UK and EU would be reached.
- John Hall
GOVE LIKELY TO SURVIVE CABINET RESHUFFLE
Michael Gove is set to survive a New Year reshuffle as he's doing an "excellent job" on preparations for the end of the Brexit transition period, Downing Street said yesterday.
The apparent vote of confidence comes after reports that Mr Gove and Boris Johnson clashed about whether to put London in the strictest tier of coronavirus restrictions, Mail Online reports.
But, the PM's new press secretary Allegra Stratton said that Mr Johnson was happy with the work of his former leadership rival.
She told reporters: "Michael Gove has been doing an excellent job at the Cabinet Office, which is at the heart of Government on so many of these critical issues.
"If it's not Covid, then it's Brexit.
"If it's not transition and whether or not we're prepared then it's also the Union and the United Kingdom and making sure our relations with the devolved authorities and administrations continue to be good."
- John Hall
'A DEAL WITHIN DAYS'
There is a good chance that the UK and EU will agree a post-Brexit trade deal within days, Ireland's foreign minister has said.
It’s the time to hold our nerve and trust Michel Barnier. And I believe if we do that, there’s a good chance that we can get a deal across the line in the next few days," Simon Coveney told Newstalk.
- John Hall
WHY EASYJET OPPOSED BREXIT
EasyJet opposed Brexit because it was "born out of deregulation", the former CEO has admitted.
Carolyn McCall, who is now CEO of ITV, was the CEO of the budget airline between 2010 and 2017.
She was speaking exclusively on Lionel Barber's 'What Next?' podcast on LBC.
When asked why she took a public position on the matter, Mrs McCall responded: "I took a public position for my company, which was endorsed by my board and by the founder.
"And the reason for that is EasyJet was born out of deregulation of the European Union…"
- John Hall
FTSE SUBDUED AMID BREXIT WORRIES
The FTSE 100 was left subdued as Brexit negotiations remain gridlocked with only weeks to go until the end of the transition period.
The index was flat after gaining more than three per cent in the past two sessions, while the FTSE 250 rose by just 0.1 per cent.
Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, told envoys yesterday that talks were reaching “a make-or-break” moment.
Negotiations are said to have stalled as snags remain over the issues of fisheries, the level playing field, and dispute resolution.
- John Hall
'GOOD PROGRESS IS BEING MADE'
Good progress is being made in Brexit trade talks but Boris Johnson will not sign up to a deal that's not in Britain's interests, a cabinet minister has said.
There are just 28 days until the end of the Brexit transition period and a deal is yet to be agreed between the UK and EU.
“We always expect negotiations to go up to the wire, it’s a very typical situation when you’re having a negotiation with the European Union,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told Sky.
“I’m confident from what I hear that progress, good progress is being made but we’re going to do a deal that is right for Britain, if such a deal is available.
“If such a deal isn’t available then we’re not going to sign up to something that is to our detriment," he said.
- John Hall
FTSE 100 FALLS WITH BREXIT LOOMING
The FTSE 100 was set to fall today as France’s President Macron threw a spanner into the Brexit trade negotiations by demanding tougher terms on the UK.
Shares on the index were set to lose some of yesterday’s strong gains, partly due to concerns over the talks.
France is joined in its hawkishness by the Netherlands and Denmark, who have all claimed EU negotiator Michel Barnier has been too soft, particularly over fish quotas.
- John Hall
BREXIT HAS HELPED COVID VACCINE
Brexit may have helped Britain win the race for a Covid vaccine, the leader of a major pharmaceutical firm has said, according to the Telegraph.
Hugo Fry is the UK managing director of Sanofi, a Paris-based multinational and the world's fifth-biggest drug maker.
He said the decoupling from the EU's regulatory and purchasing mechanisms had enabled the "nimble buying" of hundreds of millions of doses and a rapid green light for the Pfizer and BioNTech jab.
- John Hall
WALL OR NOTHING
Red wall voters will not forgive Boris Johnson if he sells out for a trade deal with Brussels, damning polling shows.
More than half of voters in 34 North and Midlands seats won by the Tories in 2019 will be less likely to vote for the PM if he does.
They do not want him to betray his pledge to take back control of UK fishing waters. And 58 per cent of those voters said they would be less likely to return Mr Johnson to No10 for another term if EU judges continue to have control over British laws.
The ability for Britain to forge our own free trade deals around the world was also a major condition for Conservative support for 55 per cent.
The Centre For Brexit Policy who commissioned the poll said: “On the supremacy of the British Parliament, swing voters living in key battleground areas in the North that gave the PM his majority are adamant there must be no backsliding.”
- John Hall
CONTINUED
He was said to have warned that significant differences remain over fisheries, state aid rules and the governance arrangements for any agreement.
The current trading arrangements expire at the end of the month, and failure to reach a deal would cause significant economic disruption.
The German MEP David McAllister, of the European parliament's Brexit co-ordination group – which also met Mr Barnier, said they had reached a "critical moment" in the negotiations.
He said agreement needed to be reached "within very few days" if the parliament and the member states were to complete the necessary "procedures" before the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of the year.
"This is the critical moment where principles need to be translated into rules and, more importantly, rules need to be guaranteed by a robust enforcement framework," he tweeted.
- John Hall
BREXIT TALKS HEAD FOR THE WIRE AS BOTH SIDES FIGHT THEIR CORNERS
Brexit talks have stretched late into the night as both sides fought their corners with the clock ticking down to the deadline for a trade deal.
It was reported that several boxes of pizza were delivered to the talks venue on Wednesday night as officials from London and Brussels tried to hammer out an agreement ahead of the end of the transition period on December 31.
The negotiations continued after Boris Johnson insisted the UK's "bottom line" on a post-Brexit trade deal is to "take back control".
The Prime Minister said he was "absolutely committed" to trying to secure a deal "if we can" amid warnings talks with the EU have reached a "make or break" point.
The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier briefed ambassadors from the 27 member states on the latest negotiations amid little sign of progress on the key issues.
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