A Brexit delay could last longer than you think

Here’s something Brexiteers might want to keep an eye on. While the country’s attention is welded to the Tesco delivery website, there are moves afoot to delay the Brexit negotiations. Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre, has called an extension of the transition period ‘an absolute must’ given the Covid-19 outbreak. He contends:

‘There will simply not be any bandwidth to focus on the negotiations, which require a delicate balance of give and take. In a situation with major healthcare challenges in the short- and long-term and economic challenges already requiring urgent action, there will not be enough political time and attention to successfully conclude this EU-UK agreement.’

The right-leaning European People’s Party (EPP) has put out a statement warning the government not to ‘expose itself to the double whammy of the coronavirus and the exit from the EU single market’. Luxembourg MEP Christophe Hansen, a member of Strasbourg’s international trade committee, said: ‘I can only hope that common sense and substance will prevail over ideology.