Simon Harris: If a Brexit deal is there to be done, it will be done

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said a Brexit deal is still possible. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

This week is a "crunch week" in Brexit talks, the Higher Education Minister has said.

Simon Harris told The Week In Politics he believes "if a deal is there to be done, it will be done" this week. 

Talks are to resume in Brussels today in what has been described as "a final throw of the dice". 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged on Saturday that “significant differences” remained on the key issues of fishing rights, competition rules and the governance arrangements for any deal. 

Mr Harris said that those issues had "been the key issues since the start".

"But it cannot be seen as about fisheries in isolation. It's about the logical and fair rationale that if Britain wants access to a lot of EU markets, it is entirely appropriate that the EU would have access to UK waters while respecting UK sovereignty. 

While I don't think we can be complacent, if there's a deal there to be done, if there's a willingness there from both sides, it will be done.

Sinn Féin's Eoin O Broin said that key to the deal are protections of the Good Friday Agreement. 

He said there is concern in coastal communities, import industries and among housing developers over the impacts.

"The Government needs to continue to do what it has been doing - defending the Good Friday Agreement, defending the Irish Protocol. We're in the last chance saloon and I know we keep saying that. We wouldn't be able to deal with a no-deal scenario."

Without an agreement, the UK will leave the EU on December 31 and begin trading on World Trade Organisation terms. 

EU leaders are due to meet on Thursday for a two-day summit in Brussels – their last scheduled gathering of the year – when they could sign-off on any agreement. Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney will travel to Brussels for these talks.

Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen are due to hold a further phone call on Monday evening to assess whether an agreement is possible.