There is a threat to cut off trade talks if the Prime Minister refuses to introduce checks in the Irish Sea
Express.co.uk has learnt members of the European Parliament will issue the warning as part of a resolution due to be voted on next Wednesday in Strasbourg.
They will insist trade talks could be “stalled” if Mr Johnson does not fulfill his obligations under the UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement.
Under the deal, the Government must introduce a number of customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland after the Brexit transition period expires at the end of the year
Daily Express 6 Feb
Fishing: EU countries seek tough stance on access to UK waters
European countries that fish in British waters are pushing for a tougher stance to protect their fishing crews before trade talks with the UK.
Western coastal states made the call at a meeting of European Union ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday evening, the first high-level diplomatic talks on chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s draft negotiating mandate since its publication on Monday.
EU sources said western coastal states with a strong fishing interest wanted Barnier’s text to be clearer that the EU would seek to maintain the same access to British waters, and the same quota shares for 100 types of fish that swim in shared seas.
Guardian 6 Feb
France to Britain: No fish for finance deal
PARIS (Reuters) – The European Union must not give the UK concessions on access to EU financial markets in exchange for rights to fish in British waters, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday.
French fishermen temporarily lost access to waters off Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands situated near the French coast of Normandy, when a European fisheries treaty expired automatically on Jan. 31 with Britain’s exit from the EU.
While the fishermen are due to regain access to the area off Guernsey, future fishing rights in UK waters more generally are likely to be a flashpoint in the negotiations between Brussels and London on a post-Brexit relationship.
Reuters 6 Feb
Households could save £8.3bn a year from post-Brexit plan to slash tariffs
Ministers say they will reclaim Britain’s mantle as the world’s foremost free trade champion with a radical overhaul of tariffs that could save households £8.3bn a year.
The Government has pledged to slash thousands of tariffs and strike deals with the US and other countries as the nation sets its own trade policy for the first time in almost 50 years.
The Department of International Trade (DIT) is consulting on a new post-Brexit UK Global Tariff, cutting the cost of a swathe of goods ranging from fridges to bricks, burglar alarms and some food products.
Many tariffs will fall sharply, with “nuisance” charges of less than 2.5pc cut to zero in a bid to slash costs for families and manufacturers.
Daily Telegraph 6 Feb
British farmers fear Boris Johnson will surrender UK food standards to Trump in talks with ‘fearsome’ US negotiators
Britain’s farmers fear Boris Johnson’s government will trade away British food standards in Brexit trade talks with “fearsome” US negotiators, the main group representing farmers in the UK has told Business Insider.
Johnson’s administration is resisting calls by UK farmers to put current EU protections for food standards into law, in time for the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020.
Nick von Westenholz, the NFU’s Brexit director, told Business Insider that while it was “very reassuring” to hear reassuring statements from Johnson and his ministers, the union representing farmers is still concerned about what the prime minister will actually do when free trade negotiations with the US get underway.
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Business Insider 6 Feb
