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More than £33billion wiped off FTSE in first minutes of trading

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Vincent
Published date21 December 2020
France has closed the borders at Dover and the Eurotunnel amid fears of spreading the new strain of coronavirus.

This weekend the Government created a new Tier Four Covid rule across the whole of London and the South East shutting down many businesses.

And talks on a post-Brexit trade deal look set to continue into this week after another weekend of tense negotiations failed to achieve a breakthrough.

After lead negotiators Michel Barnier and Lord Frost met in Brussels on Sunday, a UK Government source said the discussions had been “difficult”.

The source said “significant differences” remained over the key issues of fisheries and the so-called “level playing field rules” on state aid for business.

“Teams have been negotiating throughout the day and expect to continue tomorrow. Talks remain difficult and significant differences remain,” the source said.

“We continue to explore every route to a deal that is in line with the fundamental principles we brought into the negotiations.”

The European Parliament had said the talks needed to be concluded by Sunday evening if it was to ratify any deal before the current Brexit transition ends on December 31.

However, if there were to be a deal, under EU rules it could be provisionally signed off by leaders of the 27-member bloc with ratification delayed until 2021.

Earlier Mr Barnier warned that Britain must be prepared to respect the EU’s sovereignty if the talks were to succeed.

He said the EU remained committed to achieving “a fair, reciprocal and balanced agreement” but said both sides needed to be able to act when their interests were at stake.

His comments came after a UK Government source warned that the negotiations would fail unless there was a “substantial shift” in the EU’s position in the remaining days of the talks.

The British side has accused the EU of making “unreasonable demands” and of failing to respect UK sovereignty over fishing rights and fair competition rules.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr...

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