• UK chief negotiator Lord Frost and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier met for another round of negotiations this week in Brussels. Following the talks last week, Frost tweeted both sides are “working to get a deal, but the only one that’s possible is one that is compatible with our sovereignty and takes back control of our laws, our trade, and our waters.” He added there had been “some progress in a positive direction in recent days”.
• The leaders of France, the Netherlands, and Belgium have reportedly asked Michel Barnier to step up no deal Brexit planning. On Wednesday Belgium Prime Minister De Croo tweeted that the talks are “well into extra time….[and] we need clarity in the coming days”.
• The House of Lords voted in favour of two amendments to the Internal Market Bill that would “strengthen the common frameworks process” and remove “subsections that would allow ministers to re-write elements of the bill after it becomes law”.
• The Welsh government has released a policy paper requesting that the UK government allocate “funding in full to the Welsh government from Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) on a multi-annual basis” to replace the European Structural and Investment (ESI) funds after the transition period ends on 1 January 2021.
• On Wednesday, the Secretary of State Alok Sharma issued a letter to businesses advising them that with only over a month to go until the end of the transition period there will be new rules to follow from 1 January 2021 onwards. He urged businesses to “act now to avoid your business operations being interrupted when the transition period ends”.

Business

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EU Transition Trader and Industry Forum

The UK government has launched an EU Transition Trader and Industry Forum as part of their preparations to support businesses to get ready for the end of the transition period.

The forum enables businesses to ask questions about the preparations they need to make for the new EU trade rules which will apply from 1 January 2021.

Road haulage

On Wednesday, new guidance for hauliers and commercial drivers was released advising them on what they need to do from 1 January 2021 to move goods between Great Britain and the European Union.

Forty-five information and advice sites have also opened up across the UK to help hauliers prepare for the end of the transition period.

Trader Support Service

More than 7,000 businesses have registered for the Trader Support Service (TSS) which will support traders moving goods under the Northern Ireland Protocol. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said “with fewer than 50 days to go until the end of the Brexit transition period, it is vital that traders sign up and take advantage of the scheme, so that they can continue to trade seamlessly and seize new opportunities on 1 January 2021.”