I really don’t see the problem here.
Boris Johnson ruled out extending the Brexit transition period past December 2020 as he expressed his confidence a new commercial agreement with the European Union can be struck by December 2020. His commitment sparked political expert Richard Werly to warn Brussels could see the Prime Minister become “nasty” in order to secure a deal with the bloc within 12 months. Le Temps Paris correspondent told France 24: “I’m afraid that in 2020, as far as the European Union is concerned, we are going to discover a nasty Boris Johnson.
That’s how it is supposed to be. I expect him to play hardball. I expect him to give them a hard time. I expect him to get up and walk away if they play silly buggers. It’s called negotiating from a position of strength. Theresa May has gone. With her has gone the weak genuflecting to the bureaucrats in Brussels.
Jolly good. Carry on.
Hardball is exactly what these idiots need. They’ve messed us around enough.
Let’s hear the British lion roar and the British bull dog bark. No ifs no buts no maybes just get it done and move on! Go to it Boris!
The reason why they want the UK to keep negotiating is they need the ongoing financial contribution during the transitional period, which I presume will continue at roughly £1 billion a month. Even if BRExit happens on 31st January 2020 (which I am hopeful, but not certain of), then I suspect there will be moves afoot by both the EU technocrats and undermined by UK unCivil Servants to keep that going as long as possible.
Putting the legislation in place to prevent further negotiation post-December 2020 is not just a red line for the Eurocrats, but also a red line for the UK’s duplicitous unCivil Servants who would mealy-mouth around other instructions, but will not easily evade UK law, since doing so would put both their career and pension in jeopardy – which is presumably why Boris did it. No doubt following advice from Dominic Cummings.
I remain hopeful that having Boris and Dominic Cummings working together during the remaining BRExit, trade negotiations and other legal, political and structural untangling will end up with the best available result.
Well put and like you, I’ll actually believe we are out when I see it. I am becoming increasingly hopeful though.
Their real problem is not so much trade but us no longer being trapped inside their customs union which allows them to keep third countries out of the UK market. This is going to hit them hard. I think the overall UK deficit will go down, possibly quite quickly, but even if it doesn’t (or if it inreases) it won’t be to the advantage of EU countries. This will have some rather serious economic implications for them.
“…This will have some rather serious economic implications for them…”
Well, I hope Juncker has to buy his wine in boxes, and Verhofstadt loses his carpet-bags – at the very least!