Boris Johnson will fly to Brussels tomorrow for final Brexit talks

Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels tomorrow to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after they spoke on the phone last night.

The Prime Minister and von der Leyen spoke for more than 90 minutes on Monday evening, but came no closer to solving their ‘significant differences’ over Brexit. The sticking points between the EU and the UK continue to be governance, fisheries and a level playing field.

After their call, Johnson and von der Leyen said in a joint statement: ‘As agreed on Saturday, we took stock today of the ongoing negotiations. We agreed that the conditions for finalising an agreement are not there due to the remaining significant differences on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries.

‘We asked our Chief Negotiators and their teams to prepare an overview of the remaining differences to be discussed in a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days.’

The level playing field refers to the extent to which the UK will follow EU rules following Brexit, while governance involves how the two parties will enforce any deal and resolve disputes.

Fishing, which has long been a sticking issue between the two, relates to the UK’s demand that fisherman have the right to all fish in its waters. In contrast, the EU wants access for its boats in a quota system, which shares fish among member states.

Johnson and von der Leyen’s showdown will come just one day before EU leaders land in the Brussels for a pre-Christmas summit.

The European Commission President has said she is looking forward to welcoming Johnson to Belgium.

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