Brexit: EU-UK trade talks continue, as deadline looms

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Michel Barnier has arrived in London for the latest round of talks on the UK's post-Brexit trading relationship with the EU.

The EU's chief negotiator will sit down with UK counterpart Lord Frost, with less than a week to go until the UK's deadline for agreeing a trade deal.

It comes after European Council President Charles Michel said the sides were approaching "the moment of truth".

The main sticking points are fishing rights and state help for businesses.

The UK's post-Brexit transition period, during which its trading relationship with the EU has remained the same, is due to end in December.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the two sides should "move on" if nothing is agreed before the EU summit starting next Thursday.

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If no deal is reached, the UK and EU would do business under World Trade Organisation rules, which would mean tariffs on goods.

Friday's talks are described as "informal" but any subsequent statements will be followed closely for signs of progress on two differences in particular.

First, the EU wants the UK to follow closely to its rules on state aid - financial assistance given by government to businesses - but the UK says it should not do so as an independent country.

Second, the UK wants full access to EU markets to sell its fish, but in return the EU wants full access for its fishing fleets to UK waters - which the UK does not want to provide.

Last weekend, Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen instructed their negotiators to "work intensively" to reach a deal.

'Intensified engagement'

On Thursday, Mr Michel said the UK still needed to take "significant steps", and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said "movement" was required before "end-state negotiations" could begin.

He added that "the mood appears to have changed, and there's been more intensified engagement".

"But mood is one thing. It does need substance to follow the mood," Mr Martin said.

On Wednesday, Lord Frost said an agreement remained "some way away", adding that he would "very much prefer" to reach a deal, but the UK would "prosper" regardless of whether one is struck.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who is overseeing the UK's negotiations, said progress so far had given him "cause for steady optimism".