Brexit: Michael Gove insists UK will be 'in control' of waters

The Prime Minister and President of the European Commission held a call at 7pm this evening and Number 10 spokeswoman has admitted negotiations had reached a “serious situation” and said it is now “very likely” with UK will leave the bloc without a formal trade deal. In a statement following the discussions, Downing Street warned “time was very short” ahead of the Brexit deadline of December 31 and stated no agreement would be reached unless the position of the EU “changed substantially”.

During the phone call, Mr Johnson reiterated he would not accept a deal on fishing which did not grant the UK sovereignty and control over its waters.

The Prime Minister added the UK had made “every effort to accommodate reasonable EU requests” on the so-called level playing field on competition but conceded the area remained “difficult”.

Ms von der Leyen struck a more upbeat tone following the end of the call, the EU chief admitted “substantial progress” had been made on key issues but conceded “big differences” still remained outstanding.

Both sides agreed to continue talks on Friday in order to try and break the deadlock.

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A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The Prime Minister spoke to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this evening about the state of play in the UK / EU negotiations.

“The Prime Minister underlined that the negotiations were now in a serious situation. Time was very short and it now looked very likely that agreement would not be reached unless the EU position changed substantially.

“He said that we were making every effort to accommodate reasonable EU requests on the level playing field, but even though the gap had narrowed some fundamental areas remained difficult.

“On fisheries he stressed that the UK could not accept a situation where it was the only sovereign country in the world not to be able to control access to its own waters for an extended period and to be faced with fisheries quotas which hugely disadvantaged its own industry.  The EU’s position in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was to be an agreement it needed to shift significantly.

“The Prime Minister repeated that little time was left. He said that, if no agreement could be reached, the UK and the EU would part as friends, with the UK trading with the EU on Australian-style terms.

“The leaders agreed to remain in close contact.”

In a statement, Ms von der Leyen said: “This evening I took stock with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the on-going negotiations for a comprehensive Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

“We welcomed substantial progress on many issues. However, big differences remain to be bridged, in particular on fisheries. Bridging them will be very challenging.

“Negotiations will continue tomorrow.”

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