Explainer | Could UK PM Boris Johnson delay Brexit again?
- Brexit talks flirt with failure as Britain’s links to the EU set to end at midnight on December 31
- Emergence of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus overshadow efforts to reach a Brexit deal
Boris Johnson is facing calls to delay Britain’s final parting from the European Union as his government grapples with a mutant strain of coronavirus while the Brexit negotiations enter their final hours.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Tobias Ellwood, one of Johnson’s own members of parliament, all said the prime minister should extend the transition period – which keeps Britain in the bloc’s single market and bound by the EU’s rules until December 31. That would allow talks to continue beyond the year-end.
Doing that is easier said than done. Here’s why a delay is unlikely:
Legally, it’s really difficult
The transition period was enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement signed last year. It included the option to extend it by up to 24 months beyond December 31 – but only if a decision to extend was taken before the end of June 2020.
It’s no longer legally possible to change the Withdrawal Agreement, which came into effect on January 31 when the UK left the EU.
