THE EUROPEAN Union must remove “unreasonable demands” on the UK Government if a last-gasp Brexit deal is to be reached, Matt Hancock has warned.
MEPs have said they need to see the terms of any agreement by Sunday evening if they are going to be able to ratify it before the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.
The UK Government’s Health Secretary stressed he wanted the talks “to reach a positive conclusion” with a deal being struck but claimed the EU has been unwilling to compromise.
Speaking on Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday programme, Mr Hancock said: “Unfortunately the EU have put in some unreasonable demands.
“I have been looking at some of the detail of some of the requests from the EU – they are unreasonable, they do not respect the result of the referendum.”
READ MORE: Post-Brexit trade talks continue as another deadline approaches
Mr Hancock pointed to the EU failing to make changes to its stance over the level-playing field, which he explained was “rules around how governments introduce subsidies”, as well as issues remaining over fisheries.
He added: “I’m sure that a deal can be done but obviously it needs movement on the EU side.
“I’m an incredibly pragmatic politicians and I want to see a deal, but I also think that the EU demands are unreasonable and they are not demands that can be accepted.
“We do need to see that movement form the EU side and I very much hope that they make the steps that are necessary so we can conclude a deal and we can all look forward.”
When asked whether a deal can be concluded by Sunday evening, Mr Hancock said: “I think we should keep talking and we should come to a deal.”
He added that a no-deal scenario was “not an outcome I wish to see”, but stress that the UK Government was “absolutely ready for it”.
He added: “Otherwise, we’re ready for an Australian-type outcome if that’s what necessary.”
Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said that Labour “would be minded” to support a Brexit deal but claimed that the UK Government needed to “get its act together”.
Speaking on the same programme, Ms Nandy said: “We’d be minded to back it but we don’t know what will be in it. We want to see that deal first.
“We don’t trust that the Prime Minister will come back with a deal that’s in the national interest, but we’ve always said that we think a deal is absolutely essential and no deal would be a disaster.
“What we hope is that the Government gets its act together in these last 11 days and make sure there is a deal – making sure people aren’t waking up on January 1 in the middle of a global pandemic with all of the chaos a no-deal Brexit would bring.
Ms Nandy added that Brexit was now about “confronting the realities in front of us.”
“The option of a second referendum is gone, we have left the European Union, we left in January,” she said.
“We have got to go forwards, we have got to stop the disunity and the division that has held the country back over recent years.”
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