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LONDON (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday (December 8) that there might come a time when London would have to acknowledge that it was time to go for a no-deal Brexit and abandon the talks.
When asked if he would try to make a deal until cable time, Johnson replied, “Yes, of course.”
He added, using a cricket term for the end of the game: “We are always hopeful but, you know, there may come a time when we have to acknowledge that it is time to draw stumps and it is.
“We will thrive tremendously with any version and if we have to go for an Australian solution that’s fine too.”
Johnson will head to Brussels in a few days for urgent talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen amid mounting fears on both sides that trade talks on Brexit will fail.
The two spoke Monday night and agreed to meet after they concluded that a deal was still far off, despite frantic attempts by their negotiators to break out of the stalemate as time runs out.
The date and time of the meeting have not yet been decided.
European Union leaders meet for a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The face-to-face meeting between Johnson and von der Leyen is a sign that eight months of technical negotiations have gone as far as they can and, if a deal is to be reached, political leaders will now have to step in and negotiate. A commitment.
It also suggests that both parties still believe they have time before the final deadline at the end of the year and are aiming to use it to obtain last-minute concessions.
The two teams are still widely separated, with significant differences on the three key fisheries issues, the rules for fair competition and the governance of any deal, they said in a joint statement late Monday.
Disagreements on those issues have haunted the negotiations since they began eight months ago.
The British side offered a grim view of the situation and warned that the negotiations could be headed for failure.
A senior British official said there had been no tangible progress since the atmosphere soured last week and chances are high that they will not reach an agreement.
Europeans were pessimistic too, with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warning of growing frustration with the British approach.
Coveney said some countries are resigning themselves to the idea of Britain exiting the single market and the EU customs union without a trade deal, and the mood in the bloc is beginning to shift towards contingency planning.
Meanwhile, UK businesses have fired on ministers for not giving them time to adjust to post-Brexit rules, even if negotiators reach a trade deal.
Executives and lobbyists from industries ranging from aerospace to law enforcement condemned their situation in written statements to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy panel of lawmakers ahead of Tuesday’s hearing on Brexit readiness.
“The uncertainty produced by the current negotiations and the lack of time to address the outcome before the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020 is very detrimental to business confidence and its ability to prepare,” ADS, Aerospace Industry and defense lobby, he said in his presentation. “A non-negotiated result would be the worst possible situation for companies.”
Aerospace ADS called on the UK and the EU to sign an agreement to ensure that aircraft parts remain certified for safety, whether they are made in Britain or in continental Europe. Failure to do so could mean additional costs and complexity as manufacturers find an alternative system.
ADS also asked the European Aviation Safety Agency to implement no-deal backup measures, such as recognition of safety certificates issued by the UK authority for at least nine months. In its current form, parts for production and maintenance would be approved, but not newly designed parts.
Arla Foods UK, which accounts for up to a third of Britain’s dairy producers, said that in addition to concerns such as potential storage and labor shortages, “we also repeatedly uncovered new issues that we were not aware of” to despite preparing for Brexit since 2016.
The food and beverage industry is facing a “triple hit from Covid-19, Christmas demand and Brexit,” and consumers are not prepared, he said.
In addition to potential tariffs in a scenario with no deal or additional bureaucracy with trade, even if a deal is struck, Britain could face shortages next month as the country imports 15 percent of the dairy it consumes, particularly yogurt, butter, and cheese.
Despite the preparation, law firms face “significant issues, additional costs and a reduced ability to serve EU clients from January 2021 onwards,” said the Law Society of England and Wales. “The conditions they are planning are likely to change with little warning,” he added.
Britain’s legal services industry has 552,000 full-time employees and was worth nearly £ 60bn in 2018, the document added.
Without a free trade agreement, the tobacco industry faces tariffs of up to 70 percent, which would lead to price shocks and risk a black market, Japan Tobacco International said. “Our business planning is adversely affected by the lack of clarity and timeliness in much of the information provided by the government as the deadline approaches,” he said.
Meanwhile, corner stores are concerned about higher wholesale prices, stock availability and a lack of clarity about the trade program for the border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, according to the Convenience Stores Association, which represents 33,500 local stores.
Most of its members are small, independent operators and therefore totally dependent on suppliers and wholesalers to take appropriate action, the association said.
On the other hand, small and medium-sized businesses are unlikely to be prepared for post-Brexit accounting regimes, said financial software company Sage Group. He called for a “soft landing” period with forgiveness for faulty filings as companies adjust to new rules on sales and customs taxes, and warned the government that Covid-19 exacerbated the potential impact for its customers.
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