Minister “reasonably optimistic” a Brexit deal will be struck within days

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A CABINET minister today said he was “reasonably optimistic” that a Brexit deal will be struck within days.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick stressed that there were still “serious areas of disagreement” but the UK and EU seem to be edging closer towards a new trade pact.

Progress is understood to have been made on reaching an agreement on fair trade under the “level-playing field” discussions and on governance, though the two sides were still said to be quite far apart on the fishing row.

“I’m still reasonably optimistic,” Mr  Jenrick told Sky News amid speculation that a deal could be announced as soon as tomorrow.

“There’s still the same serious areas of disagreement,” he added.

“At the moment there isn’t sufficient progress. It isn’t a deal that the Prime Minister feels he can sign us up to.”

Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have had several discussions in an effort to resolve remaining difficulties, and the language has become far more optimistic.

Even if a deal is struck, Britain’s economy is expected to be damaged by the Canada-style free trade agreement, though leaving the EU will give the UK greater control over its borders.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has not published an updated estimate of the impact of a Canada-style free trade agreement, but a Treasury analysis in 2018 put it as a 6.7 per cent blow to GDP over 15 years.

The transition period ends on December 31 and ministers have emphasised that there will be no extension.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday that the European bloc is making a “final push” to strike a trade deal.

However, he told a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels that the UK’s latest offer on sharing out the fish catch from British waters from 2021 was “totally unacceptable”, according to sources.

Asked whether there was a link between French president Emmanuel Macron’s action to shut the border with France after the discovery of the mutant strain of Covid-19 in the UK - and the Brexit negotiations - Mr Jenrick said: “I hope not.”

Earlier, the European Parliament’s former Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said the queues of lorries in Kent are a sign of things to come.

He tweeted: “We forgot what borders look like. Some thought they would remain open with or without the EU. They will now start to understand what leaving the EU really means.”

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