British cabinet minister Michael Gove has said there was still a chance of a turbulent Brexit without a trade deal as talks with the European Union had snagged on fishing, governance rules and dispute resolution.
Just 30 days before Britain leaves the EU's orbit following a standstill transition period since it formally quit the bloc, the sides are trying to agree a trade deal to avoid a rupture that could snarl almost £745 billion in annual trade.
With each side urging the other to compromise, a French official said Britain must clarify its positions and "really negotiate", and cautioned that the EU would not accept a "substandard deal".
Michel Barnier has said he will update member states envoys to the talks at 7.30am (GMT) tomorrow.
Earlier, the British government urged firms to prepare as it scrambles to finish essential infrastructure.
In a letter to businesses, ministers warned time is running out before the end-of-year deadline for them to finalise preparations and avoid potential disruption.
Britain formally left the EU in January, nearly four years after a referendum on membership that divided the nation and paralysed its politics.
But it remains bound by the bloc's rules until 2021 under the terms of its divorce.
Negotiations on a free trade deal, which continue in London this week, have been stalled for months and are running out of time.
The government insists Britain will prosper with or without an agreement.
"Regardless of the outcome of our negotiations with the EU, there are guaranteed changes that businesses must prepare for now," said senior minister Michael Gove. "There is no time to lose."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he believed a deal could be done this week.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he was hopeful that a free-trade agreement would be concluded between Britain and the European Union during the next couple of weeks.
"We still don't know what will happen there, but obviously we are all hopeful that we will see an FTA concluded in the next couple of weeks," Mr Varadkar told a briefing with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
European Commission source plays down talk of a "tunnel". Says member states and the European Parliament will still be briefed on progress in the Brexit negotiations, although not perhaps as often as they would like
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) December 1, 2020
On the outskirts of Ashford, a town in southeast England strategically situated on the approach to the busy port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel, construction of a new customs clearance centre and lorry park is being ramped up.
Locals say works continue late into the night under floodlights at the vast site, where Europe-bound lorries will be processed post-Brexit and trucks will also be able to wait.
But how many will eventually use the facility - which borders the historic villages of Sevington and Mersham - and how long they will remain there remains unclear.
The British government has released little information about the site, one of ten lorry parks planned around the UK which will be built using £470 million (€523m) earmarked for post-Brexit "inland infrastructure".
That has left locals in this once-quiet corner of Kent, where 59% of people backed Brexit in 2016, increasingly unnerved.
"There is a lot of concern about the unknown," said Mersham resident Sharon Swandale, of the Village Alliance, set up more than a decade ago to inform its approximately 300 households about local development.
"If you know what Brexit's about then you're a lot more informed than we are. The problem that we have is that we don't know what Brexit means, we don't know what's going to happen."
The site has for years been earmarked for potential use as a large-scale logistical and warehousing hub, so people see the new facility as "the lesser of two evils", Ms Swandale added.
"It's more trying to make the best of what we've got," she said, noting villagers would welcome compensation for any drop in the value of their properties.
Brexit supporters narrowly won the argument for leaving the EU in 2016 with a claim this would restore Britain's control over its borders.
But there are fears the imminent departure from the bloc's single market and customs union after nearly 50 years could cause chaos at ports and logistics hubs.
Businesses have complained of inadequate preparations and contingency planning, with accusations that ministers are underestimating the sheer scale of the challenge ahead.
Deal or no deal, increased red tape in the form of customs declarations and permits will replace largely seemless transportation of goods to and from the EU.
Mr Gove's Cabinet Office department, which is in charge of Brexit preparations, conceded today that the changes "will likely mean that there is short-term disruption at the border".
But it said a newly launched Border Operations Centre, to be manned around the clock, would help deliver "the world's most effective border by 2025".
The facility will utilise software to gather information about the flow of goods and passengers in real time, as well as analyse historical trends and have predictive capability.
Earlier, Mr Gove said that trade talks are still stuck on fishing, governance rules and dispute resolution because the EU is asking too much.
"The EU still wants to take the lion's share of the fishing in our waters, which is just not fair given that we are leaving the EU," Mr Gove told Sky.
"The EU still want us to be tied to their way of doing things," he said.
"The EU are at the moment reserving the right if there is any sort of dispute not quite to rip everything up but to impose some really penal and tough restrictions on us and we don't think that's fair."
Mr Gove also said that there was a chance that Brexit trade talks may end without a deal, the nightmare finale to the five-year Brexit crisis.
"We have intensified the negotiation process, but it's important that the EU also lives up to its responsibilities as well," Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Gove told ITV's Good Morning Britain.
Asked whether a no deal was closer than anyone would admit, he said: "I think it's certainly the case that there is a chance that we may not get a negotiated outcome, that's why it's important business prepares for all eventualities, but I very much want a deal and I believe that we can secure one."
