Coronavirus outbreak forces UK and EU to cancel trade talks as Downing Street insists Brexit transition period will not be extended beyond 2020
- Trade talks between UK and EU were due to take place in London this week
- But they have now been called off because of coronavirus crisis disruption
- Two sides are now trying to figure out how to conduct talks using video link
- Cancellation prompts further pressure on UK to seek transition period extension
- Comes after Dominic Raab said he is ‘confident’ deal can be done by end of 2020
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
The coronavirus crisis has prompted Britain and the EU to cancel Brexit trade talks which were due to take place this week.
The two sides had already ruled out face-to-face discussions because of the outbreak.
But they had been exploring the possibility of using video conferencing to allow the second round of negotiations to go ahead in some form.
However, Downing Street announced this afternoon that the showdown had been postponed.
Today’s decision and the worsening spread of the deadly disease will inevitably prompt questions about whether the Brexit ‘standstill’ transition period will have to be extended.
Number 10 remains adamant that the talks can still be successfully concluded by the end of the year and has repeatedly ruled out prolonging transition.
Brexit trade talks were due to take place in London this week but they have now been cancelled because of coronavirus
Dominic Raab today defied a Labour call to postpone plans to sever economic ties with Brussels in nine months time because of the coronavirus and its impact on Britain
A government spokesman said this afternoon that the ‘transition period ends on 31 December 2020’ and the deadline is ‘enshrined in UK law’.
However, the Telegraph reported that the government is now increasingly resigned to the fact that an extension will ultimately have to be agreed.
The announcement that talks had been cancelled comes after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons that coronavirus would not stop the two sides hammering out a trade deal inside the next nine months.
Senior figures in the EU, including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, said before the coronavirus outbreak that there was not enough time for a deal to be agreed.
The outbreak has piled even more pressure on the UK to agree to a transition extension.
Confirming talks had been postponed, a UK government spokesman said: ‘In light of the latest guidance on coronavirus, we will not formally be convening negotiating work strands tomorrow in the way we did in the previous round.
‘We expect to share a draft FTA [Free Trade Agreement] alongside the draft legal texts of a number of the standalone agreements in the near future still, as planned.
‘Both sides remain fully committed to the negotiations and we remain in regular contact with the European Commission to consider alternative ways to continue discussions, including looking at the possibility of video conferencing or conference calls, and exploring flexibility in the structure for the coming weeks.
‘The transition period ends on 31 December 2020. This is enshrined in UK law.’
Mr Raab was today urged by opposition MPs to delay negotiations and to seek an extension.
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock had asked the Foreign Secretary: ‘Rather than trying to fight this war on two fronts and stretching government bandwidth to breaking point, surely the time is now coming to request an extension to the transition period?
‘It’s better to do that than putting ideology ahead of the safety of the British people.’
But Mr Raab replied: ‘As far as I am aware the negotiations can still proceed, given all of the logistical arrangements that we put in place.
Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock had asked the Foreign Secretary: ‘Rather than trying to fight this war on two fronts and stretching government bandwidth to breaking point, surely the time is now coming to request an extension to the transition period?
‘We are confident that we can get this done.
‘And actually I don’t think delaying Brexit negotiations would give anyone the certainty that they need on either side of the channel.’
Face-to-face talks between the two sides were due to take place in London this week. The first round was held in Brussels.
But the coronavirus pandemic promoted the proposed sit down to be cancelled as the EU and UK considered other methods to allow negotiations to be conducted remotely.
Critics have questioned the feasibility of conducting complex trade talks over a video link.