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On the #Brexit talks, I hear good and bad news - a short thread. The good news is that on most of the contentious issues - state aid, level playing field, dispute settlement - there has been movement and real progress. @CER_London /1
The bad news: there has been no progress at all on fish. Neither EU (pressed by France) nor UK can easily compromise. Tory MPs care more about fish than eg state aid. And I hear @MichelBarnier is today meeting fisheries ministers - who will presumably tell him not to move. /2
Someone quite close to the talks says he worries that the nature of the process could lead to an unintended crash. All the talking has to happen between Barnier and @DavidGHFrost and their teams - neither team wants others involved. Yet neither team can easily be flexible. /3
And yet, I am told, if only @BorisJohnson could chat to @EmmanuelMacron - and they could explain to each other the political sensitivities on fish, and their real bottom lines - they could probably sort out a compromise. /4
After all, no deal would mean French fishermen losing all rights in British waters, and British fishermen being barred from selling to the EU. It really would be silly if the Brexit trade negotiations floundered on fish. Time for UK ministers and EU govts to get involved? /ENDS
