UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday Brexit transition period should end before the next general election in the United Kingdom, scheduled for 2022.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2018) UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday Brexit transition period should end before the next general election in the United Kingdom, scheduled for 2022.The UK media reported on Sunday that EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier had floated the idea of extending the transition period until the end of 2022. Under the latest draft deal, the transition period is expected to last until the end of 2020 with a one-time extension possibility. The duration of the extension remains to be agreed.
"I think it is important that in delivering for the British people we are out of the implementation period before the next general election," May said at the annual conference of a UK business organization, the Confederation of British Industry.
Greg Clark, the UK secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, told BBC Radio 4 broadcaster earlier in the day that businesses would welcome the possibility of extension over the so-called backstop solution for Irish border, as they would rather change their practices for one set of rules than twice for two different sets. Clark did not reject out of hand the possibility of the extension until the end of 2022.
The backstop solution has been provisionally agreed as a safety net to avoid hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
