Strong possibility of no-deal Brexit, warns Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued the starkest warning but that the U.Ok. might be out of the EU on January 1, 2021, with out a commerce settlement in place as the 2 sides stay divided on key areas amidst last-ditch talks between the chief Brexit negotiators.

After Mr. Johnson ’s pressing talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels failed to interrupt the logjam over the European Union (EU) fishing rights in U.Ok. territorial waters as a non-member and competitors guidelines for companies, the Prime Minister admitted {that a} Sunday deadline for his or her subsequent dialogue doesn’t maintain out nice promise.

“At the moment, I have to tell you in all candour, the treaty is not there yet and that was the strong view of our Cabinet,” Mr. Johnson mentioned on Thursday night time.

“There’s a strong possibility that we will have a solution much more like Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU,” he mentioned.

An Australia-style settlement successfully means no commerce settlement and the 2 sides would then be buying and selling on World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms, with appreciable obstacles to motion of items in addition to folks.

With the U.Ok. not signed as much as the EU guidelines, it might additionally imply journey restrictions for Britons travelling to and from the EU on the finish of the Brexit transition interval on December 31, given the coronavirus pandemic lockdown guidelines.

“I think there is a significant possibility we could get that deal and I think we should continue to work towards it [but a deal] can’t come at any price,” mentioned U.Ok. tradition secretary Oliver Dowden throughout media interviews on Friday.

“We’re pretty much 90% of the way there, but there are these two areas which are outstanding and which no reasonable Prime Minister could accept. Namely, we do need to control our own sovereign waters and particularly our fishing policy, he said.

He reiterated that the U.K. government, as it leaves the 27-member economic bloc, should be free to set its own rules and regulations and not face penalties if the EU changes their regulations and it does not match them.

“I think it’s perfectly reasonable to push back on those things,” he mentioned.

Both sides have been locked in intense negotiations over the previous few weeks in an try to interrupt by what have been labelled as vital divergences .

Mr. Johnson maintains that he “tried very hard to make progress” at his dinner with Ms. Von der Leyen in Brussels on Wednesday, however the EU was making issues “unnecessarily tough“.

Ms. Von der Leyen accused the British facet of not having the ability to agree on a stability of equity and {that a} determination shall be taken on Sunday, which U.Ok. Cabinet ministers have indicated would be the level of finality within the negotiations.

The EU has set out its contingency plans within the occasion of no commerce settlement being reached with the U.Ok. The plans purpose to make sure that the U.Ok. and the EU air and highway connections nonetheless run after the post-Brexit transition interval concludes on the finish of this month and likewise permit the possibility of fishing entry to one another’s waters for as much as a 12 months, or till an settlement is reached.

The U.Ok. had voted to depart the EU in a referendum in 2016 and beneath the Withdrawal Agreement, or the so-called divorce pact, they’ve till December 31 to outline their future buying and selling preparations or half with no deal — which might finish the present tariff-free and quota-free partnership they share in most sectors of the economic system.