UK Will Plan For 'Orderly Exit' From EU If No Trade Deal Agreed

Publish On: 28 Feb, 2020 10:04 AM | Updated   |   Shivalik  

LONDON: A UK government report has said that Britain will plan for an "orderly exit" from the European Union (EU) if no trade deal is agreed by June. 

On Thursday, Downing Street said if trade talks with Brussels fail to progress, the govt will get to decide whether Britain's attention should move away from negotiations and focus solely on continuing domestic preparations to exit the transition period in an orderly fashion, Xinhua reported.

The 30-page document spelling out Britain's negotiating mandate confirms that British government won't extend the present transition period beyond New Year's Eve .

The document says Britain hopes a broad outline of an agreement with Brussels would be made clear and will be finalised by September 2020.

Details of Britain's approach, including a call from a Canada-style trade deal with the EU, was outlined as MPs within the House of Commons debated Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy.

In that debate, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said there'll be no border down Irish Sea, separating Northern Ireland from the remainder of England .

The government said it wants regulatory freedom from the EU and can not accept any role for the Court of Justice of the EU at dispute resolution mechanisms, Downing Street added.

Political commentators have said Britain's approach to a trade deal clashes with the negotiating mandate published by the EU earlier in the week , setting the scene for tough negotiations when talks open next week.

Britain's negotiating mandate involves a liberalised marketplace for trade goods, with no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions on trade manufactured or agricultural products.

It also wants a separate agreement on fisheries, allowing annual negotiations on access to each other's waters and an agreement on equivalence on financial services to be decided before the end of this June.

The document states, "The vision for the UK's future relationship with the EU is a vision of a relationship based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals."

"Whatever happens, the government will not negotiate any arrangements in which the UK does not have control of its own laws and political life."

A comprehensive trade agreement should be at the core of a trade deal, which should get on the lines of trade agreements already agreed by the EU in recent years with Canada and with other friendly nations, also states the document.