British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says progress in Brexit talks with EU

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that Brexit negotiations with the European Union this week have made progress in some areas.

The two sides say they are inching towards a deal that would govern around $900 billion in trade after December 31, when the current transitional arrangements end, though sticking points remain on fishing, level playing field issues and governance.

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Britain's Brexit supremo, Michael Gove, said on Monday that the clauses of the Internal Market Bill that undercut the Withdrawal Treaty would remain, despite a demand from the European Union that London scrap them.

The British government unveiled an "Internal Markets Bill" last month which is now winding its way through parliament and would override parts of the Brexit treaty that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck with the European Union last year.

Johnson argues it will provide a "safety net" against what he claimed are EU threats to impose tariffs on UK internal trade and even stop food going from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland, although his government has admitted that in overwriting a treaty it breaks international law.

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The proposed law has infuriated the Europeans, who had demanded that it be withdrawn or amended before a deadline of Wednesday this week, but, after his meeting in Brussels with Sefcovic, Gove insisted it would not be changed.

Both London and Brussels say a deal on a free trade agreement must be struck by mid-October to allow time for it to be ratified before coming into force from January 1 next year.

Failure to do so would see trade conducted on World Trade Organization rules, with higher tariffs and quotas and almost certain economic chaos for Britain and Europe.