Post-Brexit talks with the EU have turned sour, after the UK escalated tensions by accusing Brussels of only offering a "low-quality" trade deal.
Downing Street's chief negotiator, David Frost, said the agreement on offer amounts to "unprecedented oversight" of laws and institutions from 1 January 2021.
A litany of problems with the EU's demands were fleshed out in a strongly worded letter to his opposite number Michel Barnier and published by Number 10 on Tuesday.
The intervention, which comes days after Mr Frost said "very little progress" had been made in talks since March, will rattle those fearful of a no-deal end to the transition period.
The UK left the EU on 31 January but is still following its rules and remains in the single market and customs union until the end of the year.
Negotiators have until then to strike a trade deal to replace those ties or the UK will fall on to base-level World Trade Organisation terms with one of its biggest trading partners.
The clock is now running down to the end of June - the latest point both sides can agree to extend the transition period, although that is something Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed never to do.
Mr Frost said it was "perplexing" the EU would not settle a "high-quality set of agreements" on policy areas where thinking is "very similar", such as aviation and nuclear, and is instead pushing for "additional, unbalanced, and unprecedented provisions".
He wrote: "We find it hard to see what makes the UK, uniquely among your trading partners, so unworthy of being offered the kind of well-precedented arrangements commonplace in modern FTAs [free trade agreements]...
"At this moment in negotiations, what is on offer is not a fair free trade relationship between close economic partners, but a relatively low-quality trade agreement coming with unprecedented EU oversight of our laws and institutions.
"It does not have to be like this. I remain convinced that it would be very straightforward for us to agree a modern and high-quality FTA and other separate agreements, like those you have agreed with other close partners around the world, and that we could do so quickly."
Three rounds of negotiations have happened so far, with the next due to take place next month.
Brussels has previously accused the UK side of trying to run down the clock in an attempt to force them to accept an agreement on its terms rather than suffer the widely anticipated disruption to trade if there is no deal.
Labour's shadow Cabinet Office minister, Rachel Reeves, has urged the government to "act in the national interest to get a deal that is good for jobs, workers' rights and also for scientific cooperation".
On Sunday she said the transition period should be extended to avoid no-deal, telling Sky News: "We're saying they mustn't rush this and if they are not going to a secure deal, we mustn't crash out without a deal, so that means taking the time that is necessary...
"If they are not in a position to do that then they need to come back and expand the timetable."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2JyZXhpdC10cmFkZS10YWxrcy1oYXZlLXR1cm5lZC1zb3VyLWFzLXVrLWF0dGFja3MtbG93LXF1YWxpdHktZGVhbC1vbi1vZmZlci0xMTk5MTMwN9IBc2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9icmV4aXQtdHJhZGUtdGFsa3MtaGF2ZS10dXJuZWQtc291ci1hcy11ay1hdHRhY2tzLWxvdy1xdWFsaXR5LWRlYWwtb24tb2ZmZXItMTE5OTEzMDc?oc=5
2020-05-19 21:42:28Z
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