Brexit news – live: Fisheries dispute stalls talks as Tory MPs threaten rebellion on deal

Good morning and welcome to our blog following the latest on Brexit negotiations.

France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, has said Sunday is unlikely to be as hard a deadline for negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal as has been set out.

“It would be normal not to say, ‘well, it’s Sunday evening, so let’s wrap it up and sacrifice everything,’” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“It may be hard and sometimes tough to understand, but it’s necessary to take the time and, at any rate, not to sacrifice our interests under the pressure of a calendar,” he said.

European Parliament has set Sunday evening as the deadline for a deal to be ratified before the transition period ends on 31 December.

MPs in the UK are on standby to make their way back to Westminster from their holiday break if a post-Brexit agreement can be struck before the year’s end. 

Negotiations are underway in Brussels, with the European Parliament setting Sunday evening as a deadline for any deal to ratified before the transition period ends on 31 December.

So far, there have been few signs that such a deal will be struck before the Sunday night deadline.

Brexit negotiations appear to have been further stalled by a dispute over fisheries. 

While the fishing industry makes up just a small proportion of both the UK and EU economies, the issue has become a sticking point in talks. 

The UK has said it is entitled as an independent sovereign nation to hold control over its waters. 

However, countries like France say their fishermen would be severely impacted if they were unable to fish in British waters.  

If no deal is struck by 31 December, the UK will begin trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms.

Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has said Labour “would be minded” to support a Brexit deal, but said the Government needs to “get its act together”.

“We’d be minded to back it but we don’t know what will be in it. We want to see that deal first,” she reportedly said on Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme.

“We don’t trust that the Prime Minister will come back with a deal that’s in the national interest, but we’ve always said that we think a deal is absolutely essential and no deal would be a disaster,” she said, according to PA.

“What we hope is that the Government gets its act together in these last 11 days and make sure there is a deal – making sure people aren’t waking up on January 1 in the middle of a global pandemic with all of the chaos a no-deal Brexit would bring,” Ms Nandy added.

Brexit, she said, will be about “confronting the realities in front of us.”

“The option of a second referendum is gone, we have left the European Union, we left in January,” she said. “We have got to go forwards, we have got to stop the disunity and the division that has held the country back over recent years.”

British health minister Matt Hancock called on the European Union to withdraw what he branded its “unreasonable demands” in order for a post-Brexit trade deal to be struck. 

“We want these talks to reach a positive conclusion, of course I want a deal, I think everybody wants a deal. Unfortunately, the EU have put in some unreasonable demands,” Mr Hancock told Sky News on Sunday.

“They do not respect the result of the referendum,” he said, according to Reuters. “I am sure a deal can be done but obviously it needs movement on the EU side.”

Michel Barnier has been warned by the European fishing industry that his latest offer to the UK risks selling coastal communities “down the river” as negotiations for a post-Brexit deal continue in Brussels.

The UK has rejected the EU’s latest offer of dedicating 25 per cent of its catch by value to UK vessels, adding up to roughly €162.5m (£147.30m) a year. 

Instead, No 10 has demanded that the EU get closer to its demand for 60 per cent.

In a statement published online, Gerard van Balsfoort, the chairman of the European Fisheries Alliance, said the latest terms offered would already mean “unprecedented cuts”. 

“Our industry is literally and metaphorically on the brink and in spite of repeated promises made, we are in the throes of being sold down the river with the offer made to the United Kingdom by the European Commission. The more so when the fisheries negotiations with the UK are intended to start all over again after only 6 or 7 years.”

Van Balsfoort said his members would rather see a no-deal outcome than accept the terms proposed so far.

“The one thing we wanted to avoid was a ‘no-deal’ situation in the interests of all our fishermen but the deal which is now being proposed is every bit as bad,” he said. 

More than 30 pro-Brexit Tory MPs are reportedly considering withholding support for a UK-EU free trade deal if the UK is forced into any major compromises to avoid a no-Brexit deal. 

Senior MPs on the 70-member European Research Group (ERG) told have told The Guardian that more than 30 members have said they are prepared to rebel and withhold their support Prime Minister Boris Johnson is forced to give up significant ground to secure a deal.

One MP told the newspaper that the group has been divided between those who believe they will have to “suck it up” to ensure a deal moves forward and others who say they simply cannot back a deal “that is not really Brexit”.

Major queues  have continued at UK ports as businesses seek to stockpile in an effort to afford future chaos after the Brexit transition period comes to an end on 31 December.

In Kent, lorries were seen lined up over the weekend on the M20 starting in the Ashford area and stretching to the Eurotunnel entrance at Folkestone.  

Long queues were also seen along the M20 between Capel-le-Ferne and the port of Dover.

The lines appear to be the result of efforts to avoid potential cross-Channel disruptions in January once the transition period ends.

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At least two parcel delivery companies are expected to suspend operations in Northern Ireland due to Brexit. 

DPD has said it will temporarily suspend its collection service from Great Britain into NI and the Republic of Ireland starting from 23 December. 

Meanwhile, Parcel Motel is suspending its “virtual address” in Northern Ireland, according to RTÉ.

The online address had allowed online shoppers in the Republic of Ireland to avoid added costs due to shippig restrictions.

In a statement, the company reportedly said: “As of 31 December, our virtual address services in the UK will be temporarily suspended, until such time as a final Brexit decision has been implemented and our services have been adapted to meet the new requirements.

“As a result, all parcels crossing the new border between Britain and Ireland will be subject to customs formalities affecting the cost and transit time of your shipment,” it said.