Once again, it looks like Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s heavy-handed approach to bargaining with the EU is about to be vindicated.
Roughly a week ago, BoJo and his top Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost, threatened to walk away from extended Brexit talks in London before they even began without a public declaration from the EU that concession might be on the table.
Apparently, Johnson has successfully managed to call the EU’s bluff again, because by holding firm in the face of Brussels’ threats, it looks like the other EU27 members, weary of the fractious ongoing negotiations in the middle of a devastating epidemic, have finally turned on France, and French President Emmanuel Macron, to relinquish his insistence that broad access to British fisheries be incorporated into any finalized trade deal.
It’s the first real sign of progress since Boris Johnson devised his controversial “Intermarket Bill” to try and convince the UK’s EU partners that he would happily walk away from the talks if a deal wasn’t to his liking.
According to Reuters, the French government is considering accepting a smaller “catch” from British waters starting in 2021. If accurate, this would signal that President Emmanuel Macron is laying ground for a compromise that could clear the way to a comprehensive “Canada-style” trad deal with the UK.
For those who haven’t been closely following the talks, fisheries access has been a sticking point since before the trade deal talks even began.
Cable trades celebrated the news by trade the pound up as much as 0.3% to $1.3122.
