Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on December 16 2019. Picture: AFP/LEON NEAL
EU leaders have warned that it’s highly unlikely that negotiators will be able to complete the kind of deal Johnson wants, which he’s modeled on Canada’s agreement with the EU, in the 11 months between the scheduled Brexit day of January 31 and the December deadline. The EU-Canada deal took seven years to finalise.
The planned legislation will include legal text to prevent the government extending the transition period and delaying the day Britain stops being subject to EU laws, even if no new trade terms have been secured in time, an official said.The law will potentially force the UK out of the EU without a new deal in place, threatening tariffs and disruption to trade.
Other concessions granted to try to smooth Johnson’s deal through parliament in October, including protections for workers rights and a promise to give MPs a say over talks with the EU, will also be scrapped, the Times newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.