EU chief negotiator arrives for Brexit talks in London

EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier arrived for more Brexit talks in London on Sunday, with UK government saying re remained a lot to do at a late hour. Arriving at talks on Sunday morning, Barnier told reporters: "Work continues, even on a Sunday."

Teams from Britain and European Union resumed face-to-face talks on a post-Brexit tre deal on Saturday, with both sides sounding gloomy about striking an agreement in little time that remains. Barnier returned to London to meet his UK counterpart David Frost. Talks have been held virtually for past week as Barnier completed a spell of self-isolation after a member of his team tested positive for coronavirus.

COVID-19 is just one complication in negotiations that remain snagged over key issues including fishing rights and fair-competition rules. Barnier said on Friday that remote talks h me little progress and “same significant divergences persist.”

UK left EU early this year, but remained part of bloc’s ecomic embrace during an 11-month transition as two sides tried to negotiate a new free tre deal to take effect January 1. Talks have alrey slipped past mid-vember date long seen as a deline to secure a deal in time for it to be approved and ratified by lawmakers in Britain and EU.

If re is deal, New Year’s Day will bring huge disruption, with overnight imposition of tariffs and or barriers to UK-EU tre. That will hurt both sides, but burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its tre with EU.

While both sides want a deal, y have fundamental differences about what it entails. 27-nation EU accuses Britain of seeking to retain access to bloc’s vast market without agreeing to abide by its rules, and wants strict guarantees on “level playing field” standards UK must meet to export into EU.

UK claims EU is failing to respect its independence and making demands it has t placed on or countries with whom it has free tre deals, such as Cana. To reach a deal EU will have to curb its demands on continued access to UK fishing waters, and Britain must agree to some alignment with bloc’s rules - difficult issues for politicians on both sides.