No UK Brexit Extension confirms Government minister

Michael Gove, MP for Surrey Heath and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has confirmed that there will be no UK Brexit extension to the transition period. He has formally confirmed to the EU that the UK will allow the transition agreement to expire at the end of the year.

Many have already said that this is madness as we still face considerable challenges from the Coronavirus pandemic pointing out that without an extension there may simply not be time to negotiate a trade deal in the last six months of the year.

I just chaired a constructive EU Joint Committee meeting with @MarosSefcovic

I formally confirmed the UK will not extend the transition period & the moment for extension has now passed. On 1 January 2021 we will take back control and regain our political & economic independence pic.twitter.com/nZjNpez8LI

— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) June 12, 2020

News had already broken today that there will be considerably less rigorous EU border checks on imports than it initially had planned after the Brexit transition period. With no UK Brexit extension and time running out, goods will be able to flow into the UK from the EU from the 1st of January 2021 with only cursory checks taking place.

There are still considerable tensions with the EU standing in the way of a long term trading agreement. Michel Barnier has accused the UK of cherry picking from the transition agreement signed with the UK and France’s President Marcon is digging his heels in over fishing rights in Britain’s waters.

Now that we know there will definitely not be a UK Brexit Extension, businesses can have certainty that change will happen on the 1st of January 2021. The problem is, while we are certain of change there’s a great deal of uncertainty as to what that change may be. The UK position appears to be that the EU blinked once before, having declared that the Withdrawal Agreement bill couldn’t be reopened and then promptly reopened it, and now expect them to blink again.

Naturally the EU rhetoric is that regardless of no UK Brexit Extension, they are not going to allow Britain favourable terms but at the same time the EU are realists and still want to sell to Britain. Only time will tell if the game of brinkmanship sees the EU or the UK bend first. The chances are that both will move their positions a little over time and it’s worth remembering that in the best of deals both sides get part of what they want but both are usually also left thinking that they may have been able to get a bit more. Compromise is coming, we just don’t know what that compromise might be.