Boris Johnson's official spokesperson has said the Government will ensure the UK's "status as an independent coastal state is properly respected" from next year. When quizzed how Britain will prevent illegal fishing in UK waters, the Downing Street official said: "We will ensure whatever agreement we reach with the EU on fishing rights, or indeed if we are unable to reach one, we will make sure our status as an independent coastal state is properly respected.

It comes as Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said it was vital David Frost continues to champion UK sovereignty in the talks, as the issue was fundamental to many Brexit voters.

The Brexiteer highlights this in a recent Express.co.uk comment piece, where he points out most people who voted to leave the EU did so to return sovereignty to the UK.

The Tory MP said a poll conducted by Lord Ashcroft on the day of the 2016 EU referendum found nearly half of leave voters said the biggest single reason for wanting to leave the EU was the principle that decisions about the UK should be taken in the UK.

The survey found only a third said the main reason was to regain control over immigration and its own borders.

When discussing the current trade talks, Sir Iain wrote: Importantly, David Frost, Boriss chief negotiator made it clear he agreed when he wrote that in the negotiations, the UK places sovereignty above all else.

It is in that context that the issue of how these outstanding payments to the EU impinge on the UKs sovereignty which matter now.

The Brexiteer urges Mr Frost to walk away from the talks if the UKs sovereignty risks being impinged.

He said: The WA was always work in progress as at the end of this year, the UK has a right to a comprehensive agreement, one which treats the UK as a sovereign partner.

A failure to observe this must lead to a rejection of the WA.

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9.30pm update: As businesses open again in Northern Ireland, employment levels fall creating insecurity about future amid post-Brexit condtions.

Business activity in Northern Ireland picked up last month, but employment levels are continuing to fall.

Private sector firms are asked about output, staffing levels and exports amid uncertainty over Brexit.

9.00pm update: University numbers for 2020 and 2021 are predicted to collapse.

There will be a large amount of overseas students not wishing to travel to the UK. There is also a reluctance amoungst UK based students opting to not wish to pay tuition fees for online courses.

8.00pm update:Brexit may offer the UK the opportunity to draw up new laws for dealing with migrants crossing the Channel illegally.

More than 4,000 people are believed to have made the journey so far this year, some of them vulnerable individuals including young children, pregnant women and disabled people.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We are currently bound by the Dublin Regulations for returns and they are inflexible and rigid, for example, there is a time limit placed on returns, it's something which can be abused by both migrants and their lawyers to frustrate the returns of those who have no right to be here."

7.00pm Boris Johnsons "lucrative" post-Brexit trade deals cast into doubt, study claims

Institute for Government has suggested a lack of vision by Westminster over its post-Brexit trade priorities meant that other countries had the upper hand at the negotiating table.

6.30pm update: UK-EU have still some way off from reaching a post-Brexit trade agreement.

After the latest negotiations in London EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier declared a deal looked "at this point unlikely" given the UK position on fishing rights and post-Brexit competition rules.

6.00pm UK Japan trade deal could increase Britain's trade with the country by15bn per year.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said there was "substantial" agreements in areas such as financial and digital services.

4.40pm update:The UK Government has pledged 355 million help Northern Irish businesses adjust to Brexit.

A support package has been unveiled to help firms with bureaucracy of moving goods across Irish Sea. Michael Gove said 200m would be spent on a trader support service to help firms handle new bureaucracy to move goods across the Irish Sea, turning the government into a de facto customs agent for traders.

A further 155m will be spent on digital technology to streamline processes required by the new internal border.

4.00pm update: Major recession warning for the UK.

Coronavirus lockdown is set to shrink the UK's GDP by 21percent in second quarter. This is the first time the UK has slipped into recession sincethe 2008 financial crisis.

2.44pm update:Brexit will allow UK to draw up a new framework for dealing with migrants

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We are currently bound by the Dublin Regulations for returns and they are inflexible and rigid - for example, there is a time limit placed on returns, it's something which can be abused by both migrants and their lawyers to frustrate the returns of those who have no right to be here.

"At the end of this year we will no longer be bound by the EU's laws so can negotiate our own returns agreement.

"The Home Office continue to look at all available options to tackle this issue."

1.53pm update:Brexit POLL: Should UK form 'superpower' alliance with Australia, Canada and New Zealand?

Britain could form a superpower alliance with the old Commonwealth allies of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand after Brexit, a historian has claimed.

The UK could be one step closer to forming the CANZUK Union", the acronym for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK after it finally unshackle itself from the bloc, four years after it voted to leave.

Historian Andrew Roberts described how the superpower nations whose majority of people speak English could form an alliance to be a free trade zone with the free movement of people.

Express.co.ukis asking you should the UK form new superpower alliance with Australia, Canada and New Zealand?VOTE HERE.

1pm update:Tony Blair convinced Ireland to join euro - but now it must get out, says expert

Ireland was convinced to join the euro by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - but now it needs to show courage to free itself from the "straitjacket" of the single European currency, an Irish diplomat has claimed.

Ray Bassett, the former Irish ambassador to Canada, Jamaica and the Bahamas, believes Ireland needs to give serious consideration following in the UK's footsteps with Irexit.

He says a courageous decision will be required to deliver financial independence in parallel.

Mr Bassett outlines his ideas about Irexit, and the eurozone, in his new book, Ireland and the UK Post Brexit.

11.27am update:Boris will struggle to secure lucrative trade deals, study warns

Boris Johnsons promise of lucrative post-Brexit trade deal is on course to fail, a study has warned.

The Institute for Government said Britain has failed to agree what it wants from trade negotiations, giving other countries the other hand.

The think tank criticises the unforced error of launching into complex trade talks before ministers have decided what they want their post-Brexit regulations to be.

Maddy Thimont Jack, a senior researcher, said: Three years ago, we warned that the Government had not set up the necessary structures for effective decision making on key trade policy issues.

The government did not heed that warning then, but it now needs to move urgently to put them in place.

"Otherwise it will find itself losing control of trade and regulatory policy to better-prepared partners.

9.53am update: UK urged to protect healthcare rights post-Brexit

The UK has been urged to ensure healthcare arrangements, such as the EHIC, are included in a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow a the eCentre for European Reform, wrote on Twitter: "The thing is, yes - the UK absolutely should be trying to negotiate reciprocal healthcare provisions as part of the future partnership between the EU and UK.

"UK has decided to take the bizarre approach to the negotiations of claiming it doesnt really want anything special from the agreement when it should (and it does)."

Commentators have warned that without such a scheme in place British holidaymakers with existing health conditions may have to fork out hundreds of pounds for travel insurance.

Travellers over 65 can also expect an increase in premiums.

9.33am update:Brexit Britain could form NEW superpower alliance with Australia, Canada and New Zealand

Brexit Britain could form a federation with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to create a superpower" after fully cutting ties with the EU, a historian has claimed.

Historian Andrew Roberts described the federation of nations whose majority of people speak English could be a free trade zone with the free movement of people.

The idea is based on the concept of the "CANZUK Union", this being the acronym for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

The union could have a mutual defence organisation and combined military capabilities, the historian claimed.

According to Mr Roberts, the "CANZUK" union would be the fourth-largest economy in the world.

9am update:FTSE-100 shares rose on hopes of Brexit deal

London-listed shares rose on Monday, due in part to renewed hopes of a Brexit trade deal with the EU.

The FTSE-100 was up 0.8 percent, with the mid-cap FTSE-250 also up 0.7 percent - a seven-week high.

Traders are hopeful of a Brexit trade deal after Britain's top minister overseeing negotiations said on Friday he was confident of an agreement with the EU.

Stocks also rose in response to optimism around a post-pandemic economic rebound in China.

8.07am update:Ireland must take a long hard look at Brussels membership

Ireland has been tipped to follow the UK's lead and quit the European Union by a former Irish diplomat who called for "a long hard look" at whether the country's membership of the bloc was worth it.

Ray Bassett pulls no punches in his new book, 'Ireland and the EU Post Brexit', suggesting the benefits bestowed on Dublin by Brussels are drying up, with "difficult choices" on the horizon.

In his book, he writes: "We need a long hard look at our EU membership and pose the question, is it worth the price?"

"The billionaire businessman, George Soros, an ardent europhile, has accepted the inevitable and predicted that unless the EU reforms it will perish.

"The pipe dreams of Emmanuel Macron and his proposals for even a more centralised EU are vanishing against the cold reality of the desire for the citizenry of EU Member States for national sovereignty.

"The disastrous showing of the establishment centre-right and centre-left parties in the 2019 European Parliament elections demonstrated this in a very direct way."

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Brexit LIVE: No10 vows action on illegal French fishers -'Independence WILL be respected!' - Daily Express