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Politics explained

Could coronavirus push back the UK-EU trade deal deadline?

The PM may come under pressure to soften Brexit to help companies recover, writes Andrew Grice

Sunday 22 March 2020 16:46 GMT
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Boris Johnson's government is still suggesting a deal can be done by the end of the year
Boris Johnson's government is still suggesting a deal can be done by the end of the year

In public, Boris Johnson is sticking to his 31 December deadline for leaving the EU single market and customs union. In private, officials in both London and Brussels believe coronavirus means a delay is inevitable.

The prime minister told his daily press conference last Wednesday: “There is legislation in place that I have no intention of changing.” (Of course, intentions, and legislation, can change.)

The UK and EU did exchange draft legal texts for a trade agreement last week, but a second round of talks involving 200 officials did not take place as planned. There will soon be some contact by video-conferencing. But with officials switched from other work to tackling coronavirus, the claim by UK ministers that the government can juggle two balls at once looks like a holding line.

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