Scottish and Welsh leaders urge Brexit transition extension

They said not doing so would be “extraordinarily reckless”.

It comes on the same day as Cabinet Minister Michael Gove stated he has issued a “formal confirmation” that the UK will not accept any extension.

Either the UK or EU may request an extension of one or two years to the ongoing ‘future relationship’ negotiations, but this has to be agreed by the end of June 2020. If there is none then there will be less than five months left to negotiate. EU negotiator Michel Barnier has stated that little progress has yet been made.

Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford said in the letter: “Without an extension to the transition period, at very best there will only be a damaging ‘bare bones’ trade deal or even worse, a disastrous no deal outcome…

“At the time the Withdrawal Agreement was signed, no-one could have imagined the enormous economic dislocation which the Covid-19 pandemic has caused – in Wales, Scotland, the whole of the UK, in the EU and across the world.

“While we hope that the second half of this year will see the beginnings of a recovery, we believe that exiting the transition period at the end of the year would be extraordinarily reckless.

“It would pile a further very significant economic and social shock on top of the Covid-19 crisis, hitting businesses whose reserves, in many case, have already been exhausted, leading to more business closures and redundancies. But in this case, the shock would be avoidable.

“No-one could reproach the UK Government for changing its position in the light of the wholly unforeseeable Covid-19 crisis, particularly as the EU has made it clear it is open to an extension request.

“We therefore call on you to take the final opportunity which the next few weeks provide to ask for an extension to the transition period in order to provide a breathing space to complete the negotiations, to implement the outcome, and to give our businesses the opportunity to find their feet after the enormous disruption of recent months.”