Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Boris Johnson has allowed himself to be snookered by the EU

(Photo by Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images)

The UK-EU trade negotiations have heated up again, albeit from a very cold state. Boris seems to have conceded ground on the ‘evolution clause’ to the European Union, making a path to an agreement on the level playing field issues at least plausible. The UK has accepted that divergence should come at some cost — although the details of how that cost should be managed appear to still be a live issue. With that comes the last hurdle: fishing.

Boris Johnson has allowed himself to be snookered by the EU. More than anything else I could point to, leaving fishing to the very end demonstrates the folly of Johnson’s overall negotiating strategy.

Johnson has put himself in a position where there are two choices, both of which have huge political downsides

Johnson should have prioritised fish from the start. Remainers like to go on about how small the fishing industry is economically, but this is again to confuse Brexit as principally an economic argument. While the details of ratchet clauses in level playing field agreements pass a lot of people by, everyone understands the basics of fishing. It is the most visible symbol of ‘taking back control’.

Had the Tories made securing the best possible rights for Britain’s fishermen the ultimate goal in the negotiations, Boris would most likely have come away with a trade deal already. The EU was never going to back down on anything crucial to the integrity of the single market; the battle over the level playing field was always going to be lost by the UK if the British government really wanted a trade agreement before the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, fisherman’s territorial rights, while obviously politically loaded in countries such as France, were never life or death.

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