talks about a post-brexit trade deal
have been
paused tonight without an agreement less
than a month before the transition
period comes to an end
the uk's lead negotiator david frost and
his eu counterpart michelle barnier
have said that significant divergences
remain
and that boris johnson and the president
of the eu commission ursula van der lion
will meet tomorrow to discuss the next
steps
our deputy political editor vicky young
reports
everything will soon be changing for
this distribution company
and thousands of others in just four
weeks goods going back and forth across
the border with the eu
will need extra paperwork and checks
some fear that could lead to widespread
disruption
and congestion it's difficult enough
getting in and out of the
uk at the moment with the delays at the
at the border crossings of fairies
if you're adding 8 16 12 hours whatever
that may be going forward
who's going to pick up the costs for
every wheel that
if our wheels aren't earning an effect
we're not earning any money
in kent they're preparing a park for 10
000
lorries a trade deal with the eu would
mean businesses can buy and sell goods
without paying taxes or tariffs
but there will still be more checks
whether there's a deal or not
will we get a deal the eu's chief
negotiator michelle barnier has been in
london all week
important day determination but the uk
has accused the eu of making last minute
demands
we want the eu to recognize that the uk
is a sovereign and
independent nation and it is on the
basis of that that a deal will be done
it is it is tricky but we are working
hard david frost and his team are
working incredibly hard on this
in good faith so let's see where we get
to but they didn't get very far
tonight after another day of intensive
talks everything's on hold
a joint statement on behalf of chief
negotiators lord frost and mr barnier
said
the conditions for an agreement are not
met due to significant divergences
they agreed to pause the talks in order
to brief their principles on the state
of play of the negotiations
there's a lot at stake and the irish
prime minister says he
fervently hopes there will be a deal
given the enormous
negative impact of covert 19 on our
economic and social life
the last thing our citizens need now
is a second shock of the kind that an
ordeal brexit would bring
for example if the uk government wants
to give financial help to
tech firms will it need permission from
the eu
would there be a punishment if it went
ahead anyway this is
all about businesses on one side not
having an unfair advantage over their
competitors
the so-called level playing field
and then there's fishing eu countries
want to guarantee that
their boats can continue to operate in
uk waters
if not the eu might make it much harder
for us to sell
fish to them france like all its
partners
has a veto we'll conduct our own
evaluation of a deal
if one exists that's normal we owe it to
the french
we owe it to our fishermen and to other
economic sectors
tonight discussions have stalled and no
one's quite sure when the negotiators
will be back
optimism that a deal could be close to
tonight the uk
side saying they've hit a big problem
and the eu needs to be more flexible so
it's time
for the politicians to get involved
boris johnson will speak to the
president
of the european commission tomorrow then
that's been described to me
by one government insider as a high
stakes
moment it's a chance for a breakthrough
or it could be the end of the road
although i'm not getting that
impression remember these moments of
drama do
often come just before some difficult
compromises
and nobody's walking away yet all right
vicky thank you vicky young
and our europe editor katya adler is in
brussels tonight
so they're calling it a pause katya
what's your reading of this
well genio likes so much during the
brexit negotiations we can look at this
in a glass half full
or a glass half empty kind of way on the
glass half full side both sides still
say
they want a deal and they want to work
towards a deal
so it really depends what steps they now
take
what how willing they are on both sides
to compromise
to get a deal don't forget these
compromises are difficult and they're
political
so you could cynically say this crisis
is quite useful for both sides to show
to their domestic audience
we have fought to the better ends before
they then agree a deal
on the glass half empty side though
there are clearly
very big differences and it makes sense
because the eu
and uk have approached these trade talks
from very different directions
the eu the priority has always been the
single market
they worry about uk competition they
hope to bind the uk in a kind of common
rule book
like on government subsidies for example
but the uk after brexit wants to be
competitive it wants to be nimble it
doesn't want to tie its hands
and it wants to hold on to as much
sovereignty as possible
so after all this is a deal still
possible
yes is it definite no one thing
is different definite and that neither
side will sign up to a deal
unless they believe they can sell it
back home as a victory
all right katya thank you cathy adler in
brussels