Minister wants smooth transition

BRITISH trade minister Liam Fox said yesterday that he backed a transition agreement to smooth Britain’s departure from the EU, but it would have to come to an end before the next election, due in 2022.

Speaking on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, Fox said a transition deal of two years, or slightly more or less, was necessary to make sure business could make investment decisions with certainty of Britain’s future relationship with the EU.

“I want to leave the EU at the end of March 2019. Once we have done that, we can look to see what we are going to do to make it a smooth transition”.

He said planning for a transitional period of 24 months “whether that’s 23, whether that’s 25 is not a huge deal” after waiting more than 40 years to leave the EU. – Reuters