UK in talks over longer transition for Brexit
BRITISH officials are in discussions with Brussels about extending the Brexit transition period to almost three years, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
The official target for transition is “around two years” but many senior Whitehall officials remain concerned about the practicality of such a short exit period, given the potentially massive changes that would be required by a “hard” Brexit. This newspaper understands that although it is not formally government policy, Britain has discreetly begun sounding out senior EU figures over whether transition could be extended amid growing disarray within the Cabinet over the ultimate terms of a long-term deal with the EU.
Theresa May has faced a series of challenges from senior government figures in recent days and is braced for another testy Cabinet session on Monday over the Brexit strategy, with some Tory MPS demanding that Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is moved.
Any push to extend the transition period, which will begin when Britain formally leaves the EU in March next year, is likely to lead to a fierce backlash from Brexiteers.
Jacob Rees-mogg, the leader of a 60-strong group of Eurosceptic Tory MPS, told The Telegraph yesterday that Britain is heading for “Brino” – Brexit in name only – rather than the clean break for which the country voted.
Talks on the transition are about to begin in earnest, and yesterday David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said he was “confident” an agreement could be reached at the March meeting of the European Council. Making a speech in Middlesbrough, Mr Davis said Britain would agree “a strictly time-limited implementation period” but did not make any mention of its length.
However, last night Mr Davis, Mr Hammond and Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, sent a letter to business leaders setting out the plans for transition in which they said it would last for “around two years”.
The EU has set a date of Dec 31 2020 for the end of the transition period, leaving just 21 months after Brexit for preparations for new customs and trade arrangements, which have yet to be even discussed. One EU source said the issue of extending transition had
been discussed, but without specifying a preferred end date. A second source said the British side had raised the possibility of transition continuing until Dec 31 2021. One EU source with knowledge of the talks said: “What difference would a year make, honestly?”
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit chief, said this week that the EU’S current cut-off date of Dec 31 2020 was not “a question of religion” and that the Parliament could accept a period of up to three years.
The British side says it remains determined to seal a deal on transition by the European Council summit on March 22-23, amid warnings from businesses groups that failure to deliver a deal by March will force them to activate Brexit contingency plans.
A Government spokesman said the suggestion of a longer transition period was a “categoric lie”. The spokesman said: “The time-limited period should be determined by the length of time it takes to put in place new arrangements and we believe that should be around two years.”
The UK is still fighting to soften the terms of the transition agreement, after the EU agreed a toughened set of guidelines that, if turned into legal agreement, would mean EU citizens who arrived in the UK right up until the end of the transition period would be eligible to apply for full settled status.
The Telegraph understands that the UK is seeking up to eight concessions, including assurances over implementation of EU rules, EU citizens’ rights and British representation on important EU committees. The EU has signalled that it is in no mood to grant such requests.