Britain and the European Union narrowed the gap on access to fish stocks from 2021 but the politically sensitive matter was still in the way of a new trade pact, Brussels sources said yesterday ahead of a Brexit update by their chief negotiator. 

As Brexit completes on Dec 31, Britain will leave the EU's single market and customs union, meaning its current free trade arrangements will expire. A Sunday deadline set by the European Parliament, which could refuse to approve the agreement, expired without an agreement being found, leaving no time for MEPs to ratify an eventual deal before January 1.

The two sides have for months been struggling to seal a new agreement on everything from trade to transport to energy, with the final stages of the talks coming as EU and other countries have also suspended most travel to and from Britain to try to curb a new strain of the coronavirus.

The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was due to update the bloc's 27 national envoys on Brexit at 1500 GMT yesterday, and then speak to the European Parliament.

"It seems we are crossing the line," an EU diplomat said, adding that an agreement was getting closer.

His comment came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday said that there were still problems in Brexit trade talks and that Britain would thrive without a deal.

"The position is unchanged: thereare problems," Johnson told reporters when asked if there would be a trade deal.

"Its vital that everybody understands that the UK has got to be able to control its own laws completely and also that we've got to be able to control our own fisheries."

"WTO terms would be more than satisfactory for the UK. And we can certainly cope with any difficulties that are thrown our way," he said.

While EU officials and diplomats said cutting the value of the bloc's catch in British waters by around 30% from 2021 would be too high, the EU was willing to go as far as 25%.

Britain, the world's sixth-biggest economy, left the EU, a trading bloc of 450 million consumers, last January. An estimated trillion dollars worth of annual trade is at stake if they fail to put in place a new accord by the end of the year.

A senior British minister yesterday ruled out prolonging Britain's transition out of the EU beyond Dec. 31.