How Covid-19 Has Made Brexit Even Harder
Neither the U.K. nor the EU wants to compromise.
Still negotiating.
Source: Anadolu Agency
It came as no surprise that a fourth round of trade negotiations between the U.K. and the EU has produced no big breakthrough. Once again, there is talk about Britain separating from the EU in December without a trade deal in place; Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told banks this week to prepare for just that.
Why hasn’t the coronavirus pandemic changed the Brexit narrative, forced an outbreak of reasonableness between U.K. and EU negotiators or at least made compromise more likely? It’s a fair question. The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations have all said they would like Prime Minister Boris Johnson to extend the current one-year transition period through 2021 or 2022, which he can legally do if he makes the request to the EU by the end of this month. On Wednesday, the Scottish government said that without an extension, Scottish gross domestic product could be up to 1.1% lower after two years, costing 3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) of lost activity.