UK formally rejects post-Brexit transition delay

[Borg Refinery]

Well, good to see others have risen above petty spite too.


Long live diplomacy say I.


Finding out important stuff by twitter, or even by being escorted out the flabby backdoor of downing st by coppers thanks to that twatface (just getting in the spirit of things here) Dom seems to have become 'normal' now.


I'm sure we can expect any Trident launch to be first posted on TikTok in the future.

[johnofgwent]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53019046#

I noted that Dickhead Drakeford and his scottish equivalent found out via a twitter message from Michael Gove.

Possibly a little unfair for Sturgeon, whose electorate were actually in favour of the stance and actions she took, but as far as wales is concerned finding out by T@@@ is rather apt for that T@@@ Drakeford

[Borg Refinery]

Well, others have risen above groundless tribalism anyway.

[Barry]

https://pol-tics.com/index.php/topic,150.msg28866.html#msg28866
Like I said, they must be confident of a trade deal. Angela has told Barnier to STFU and act practicallly.

[Borg Refinery]

https://www.france24.com/en/20200612-uk-formally-rejects-post-brexit-transition-delay

Britain on Friday formally told the European Union that it would not extend the post-Brexit transition, raising the alarming prospect of a disorderly split in six months.

London and Brussels have made very little progress in agreeing a new trade deal for when Britain leaves the EU's single market and customs union on December 31.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson rose to power last year on a pledge to "get Brexit done", with the issue roiling UK politics -- and consuming time in Brussels -- ever since Britons voted to leave the bloc by a narrow margin in 2016.

His government had until July 1 to ask for more time, which Brussels was willing to give.


"That's it," senior minister Michael Gove told British television after finishing online talks with his EU counterparts.

"We are leaving the European Union on December 31."

In Brussels, EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic said Gove "couldn't be clearer".

"I take this as a definite conclusion of this discussion," Sefcovic said.

A delay, of sorts

EU officials were ready to extend talks for up to two years, until 2023, to help businesses cope with the fundamental change in links which have been in place for nearly 50 years.

But Britain conceded Friday that the added economic pressures of the coronavirus crisis -- the UK economy shrank by a fifth between March and April, according to new data -- meant that businesses needed some temporary relief.

To help, London said it would allow UK companies to delay submitting customs declarations and making tariff payments on their exports to EU nations for up to six months, until July 2021.

EU officials announced no reciprocal reprieve for exports from the 27 member states to Britain.

British officials said they would only consider extending the declarations and payments delay even further if a second wave of the pandemic paralysed economic activity well into next year.

"These are unprecedented times," Johnson's spokesman said.

It's good to see both sides acting a bit more grown up now and not trying to spite each other.

I think this should give both remainers & brexiters HOPE that we've risen above groundless tribalism, at least some deal anyway.