UK on cusp of historic Brexit deal as hopes grow last obstacle can be overcome

Résumé détaillé

Britain is on the cusp of an historic new deal with Union as hopes rose among negotiators that the last big obstacle to an agreement can be removed. While the final t ...

Britain is on the cusp of an historic new deal with the European Union as hopes rose among negotiators that the last big obstacle to an agreement can be removed.

While the final talks are likely to go the wire ahead of next Friday’s summit European and UK sources said there was increasing optimism on both sides over the UK’s inclusion in the EU’s protectionist Made In Europe law.

Andy Burnham has made this a priority amid warnings the law could badly damage the British economy by excluding industries such as carmaking from lucrative European contracts and subsidies.

Made in Europe is a new law, yet to be enacted, designed to protect EU companies from cheap foreign imports – mainly from China – by giving them priority in state contracts.

It is a stumbling block because EU countries want cheaper tuition fees for their nationals who will study at UK universities under the new deal – at the moment they pay full international fees – and are insisting that agreements signed off next Friday are not implemented until a deal on fees is made.

The UK is believed to be using the fees issue as a bargaining chip for inclusion in the Made in Europe scheme.

Now a senior UK official involved in the negotiations reported encouraging signs of flexibility in Brussels on the protectionist policy.

“I do think that we are making real progress on this stuff,” he said, arguing that Europe’s industrial supply chains were too closely intertwined to justify erecting fresh barriers. “There is a real winning outcome for both sides. There is also obviously a big lose-lose possibility.”

European companies themselves had been among the strongest advocates of keeping Britain involved, he added, particularly in the automotive sector.

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