[Music]
bad news is that they've pinged me and
i've
got to self-isolate on his own
as the clock ticks down to one of the
most momentous decisions of his
premiership
in the seat of power but boris johnson
will be physically out of the front line
over the next 10 days potentially
covering
the final phase of brexit negotiations
the prime minister will be allowed no
further than his flat
and his office in downing street where
he'll have to work alone
so no chance for aids to pass
handwritten notes
in any crunch zoom calls with the eu
[Music]
britain's chief negotiator david frost
has returned to brussels
talking of recent progress but he says
the talks
may still fail at least one thing is
clear
boris johnson won't be leaving this
building anytime soon
as for the chances of a deal with the eu
well there's less clarity on that
boris johnson is hoping for a deal but
he's saying that the uk
can prosper if the eu fails to recognize
the uk
as an independent sovereign country
brexiteer tories are saying that they're
getting encouraging noises from inside
this building
but they'll be examining the small print
if a deal emerges at the 11th hour it
will involve movement by both sides
in the two most difficult areas on
fishing
the uk is prepared to allow reduced but
substantial eu access to uk waters
but the eu would have to agree that this
could be changed
perhaps every five years and the uk
would agree
not to undercut the eu on areas such as
labor laws
and state subsidies this could be done
through a so-called non-regression
clause
a pledge not to lower standards the eu
may agree this can be policed on the uk
side by a uk body
perhaps the competition and markets
authority
a former brexit minister is not holding
his breath
for a deal i think it's going to be
challenging
uh that there's no doubt that the eu
seem to be very reluctant for example to
move very much on the issue of fisheries
which of course is one of their own red
lines
in addition of course there's the
crucial issue from the british point of
view
of sovereignty and it's taken a long
time for as david frost said the
european union to
internalize the fact that we are no
longer
an eu member state but an independent
country
so all this has caused huge delay and i
think that at the moment
it's looking marginally more like there
will be no deal
than there will be a deal france's
former european affairs minister
is still hopeful we are very near to the
end point we are very near to the moment
of truth
and i do hope that we are able
to reach an agreement that is beneficial
to both sides
even if it will never be as beneficial
as
having the uk as a member state but we
fully understand
that it was a sovereign democratic
decision we respect it we implement it
but we don't want to hurt our economies
to hurt our workers
because of the consequences of this
decision
happier times as the uk agreed the terms
of its departure
a different atmosphere now as the two
sides
struggle to agree a future partnership
[Music]
nate what well dr philip whitford and
damian greene are still with me and we
are joined too by the conservative mp
and longtime campaigner for brexit
peter bone and indeed tomorrow morning's
son will suggest that there could be a
deal
next tuesday peterborough first of all
they may not be your guys
lee kane and dominic cummings but
they're your kind of brexiteers and with
them gone
do you think do you think there is more
more chance of negotiation from the uk
they're not my sort of brexiteers i
walked out of vote lead because
mr cummings so you're wrong on that well
i mean on hard red lines
i'd look i i think there's going to be a
deal
as you rightly have just said i think
it's going to be within the next
seven days um it's in the interest of
both the eu
and the uk they're very close to a deal
it seems silly now
not to complete it and i'm sure there'll
be some sort of compromise
on the areas where there's some
disagreement at the moment
but i think it will happen so so you're
now saying
that if there is compromise on state aid
alignment and indeed if there's
compromise on
uh fisheries which was the big totemic
thing
of of leave eu was the big titanic thing
we're an island nation we need to
protect our waters
you're now saying that if there's
compromise on that you would back that
and that would be
a good brexit trade deal well i think
what
happened a few weeks ago was the british
government said
okay it's going to be no deal because
the eu are refusing to move their
position
if the eu have compromised on their
position i'm sure a deal can be done
and they realize the eu you realize it's
very much in their interest to do it
they sell
sell 100 billion pounds more of goods to
us than we do to them
and of course free trade the benefit of
free trade
it's better for consumers and business
unemployment so
let's let's be clear peter bowen you are
now saying that you
accept alignment with eu
rules on things like stated and things
like um
any sweeteners or whatever to make sure
that there is a level playing field you
actually are moving towards that now
that is not a red line anymore
i don't think you could possibly
interpret what i said as that
clearly we're an independent nation we
can't have rules and regulations made by
the eu
and you can't have rights over our
fishing but as you said
they'll probably be a la the eu will be
allowed to take some fishing from our
waters
until our british fleets build up again
but we can't we have
rules and regulations from the eu that's
the whole point of coming back and
taking control
of our laws and on borders and waters
and trade there's no compromise on any
of that
but the fine detail can be can be
there has to be compromise on that you
talk about fine detail and this is
interesting because it's almost
sophistry isn't it
what is the uh what is the negotiating
position that maybe moves as an inch and
what is just the fine detail
i think are people prepared to blur the
lines now to get a deal
well i think everyone realizes a deal is
a good thing and they've got to reach an
agreement that's
suitable for the uk and suitable for the
eu i think they're very close
i don't think these talks would have
continued unless they were very close
and the fact that law frost is reported
to have told the prime minister tonight
to expect a deal within seven days i i i
think it's all good news and i
i i i don't think we should be doom and
gloom about this i think we're on the
verge of
having a comprehensive free trade
agreement which is in our interest in
the eu's interest
and if it could not be completed in time
would you be prepared to accept a
technical extension in order just to get
it done
no no more extensions look the thing
that i find strange is that
this had where you have we had the eu
saying it had to be
done by the 31st of october it couldn't
be ratified that's been extended well
the only reason for extension must be
that they're very close but this cannot
go on
business needs to have certainty of what
our what the trading relationship will
be
at the 31st of december so i think we're
in the
you know i wouldn't be surprised if the
deal wasn't completed this week
damian green uh do you have any concerns
at all about the fact that we
could be busting what were boris
johnson's red lines to get a deal done
i've argued all the way along that it's
better to leave with the deal
as somebody who campaigned for remain i
accepted the result of the referendum
and said okay let's let's get a deal so
i'm delighted to hear peter say
that he wants a deal because he and i
are now on the same page
uh on this issue which is it's a
historic first
it's a historic well lots of historic
for us tonight
but let's just talk about that then
because you know what peter bonas says
we are not going to accept
eu rules and regulations but the truth
is if you are moving towards
some kind of alignment on state aid
rules and
and and rules on um on a level playing
field
you are in essence accepting
the eu position as they would be
accepting yours well
what we're not saying we will set our
own rules and we'll have the freedom to
change them in the future
and and if we do change them in the
future then that may well have
consequences
uh in other parts but i think um the
idea that that a conservative government
in particular
um would not sign the deal because we
wanted to subsidize
industries too much it's a bit weird the
state aid rules
were you know date back to margaret
thatcher she you know saw the logic of
saying
trying to keep failed industries going
with something all the fuss about this
then now because
you're both you know well i i sort of
expected you would be less but
peterborough
is now being at this exceptional
position of yes we are going to
negotiate our way into this in the next
10 days is all going to be fine
well because there are a lot of areas
that have to be negotiated most of them
have been
uh we've got as you say state aids and
fish oddly enough fish i think is one of
our stronger negotiating points
in that if we don't come to a deal then
the
the french fishermen and the spanish
fishermen and so on have no rights at
all
in british waters they don't want that
they know there's got to be something
yes
the irish farmer said that there's been
no movement on fisheries since
the summer that presumably is just
another negotiating ploy then well i i
think because it's it's such an
uh understandably um emotive issue on on
both sides of the channel
and that this was always going to be one
of the ones that were settled last and
so
there may not have been much so your
understanding would be then
uh that scottish fishermen fishermen
from all over the uk will be able to
sell their catches and
into the eu in entirety if they want at
the end of next week by the end of next
week well i hope that that where
uh fishermen i mean like you say the
scottish fishing cleats very important
to sell
their fish is uh is a matter for them as
well let's
let's see what they're allowed to catch
well let's ask uh
philippa whitford would you be very glad
to have a deal on fisheries then because
as you very well know lots of scottish
fishermen weren't very keen on the last
deal that was done in the eu
over fisheries well i i've got a fishing
constituency here on the
west coast and my fisherman largely
don't gain anything
from leaving the common fisheries policy
because seafood they catch
wasn't a quota catch at 85 percent of
our langustine go to europe
and whether there's a deal or no deal
what we are going to have
is the enormous costs of bureaucracy and
delay
at borders that a lot of them are
beginning to think is going to put them
out of business
so you know the the kind of fishing side
of it
may benefit some of the big trawler
fleet owners in the northeast of
scotland
but it doesn't help the inshore
fishermen on the west of scotland
and i mean i agree i think there
probably will be a deal
but at this late stage i think it's
going to be a very
thin low deal and a lot of the
bureaucracy
delay and problems for business is is
going to happen
regardless and peter and i sit on the
brexit committee
and he talks about you know business
needs surety
we have listened to sector after sector
from pharmaceutic road holier to farming
to fishermen the whole works talking
about
we're not ready let me let me ask you
just to move that on slightly
at the weekend the snp's westminster
leader ian blackford said there must be
a referendum
next year do you think there should be
another referendum on scottish
independence next year and the reason i
ask that
will have implications uh for the eu so
tell me do you think there should be a
referendum next year
well obviously i'd like uh i'd like a
referendum as soon as possible but at
the moment the scottish government are
focused
on the pandemic but i mean it is clear
but
we talked about a few months ago the
idea of devolution
being rolled back but also underlying
that
the people of scotland voted against
brexit and we've been treated
the reason i ask you that phillip i'm so
sorry because we're running out of time
but i do want to ask you this
do you see a referendum next year
on um scottish independence as a way
back into the eu
well obviously that's one of the aims
whenever the referendum
would be suitable to have our aim would
be to return to the eu
thank you all very much indeed