Should the Brexit transition period be extended in light of the Coronavirus outbreak?
A press conference given yesterday by the PM and the UK’s chief medical and scientific advisers marked a new urgency in the nation’s response to Coronavirus (Covid-19).
In his address, PM Boris Johnson said people should avoid all unnecessary social contact, particularly the over-70s, pregnant women and those with certain health conditions.
For people living or working in London, he said to ‘take particularly seriously the advice about working from home and avoiding confined spaces such as pubs and restaurants’.
Covid-19 presents global supply chain emergency
Outside the capital, companies are taking it upon themselves to slow or cease operations in light of disrupted supply chains. Of these, Group PSA – manufacturers of Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall vehicles – halted operations in Europe until March 27, 2020, with operations impacted in Ellesmere Port and Luton.
“Compliance with the barrier measures, going beyond the recommendations of the health authorities on the sites, are the best protection to prevent the spread of the virus,” the company said.
Travel restrictions are biting, markets are plummeting and everyday supplies are being stripped from supermarket shelves by people in a frenzy of panic buying. Given the magnitude of the situation, would it a good idea to extend Brexit negotiations beyond its current end of year deadline?
When last week’s poll was written, the government was insisting that it would refuse to ask for an extension to the Brexit transition period. But a week is a long time during a pandemic, and the overall situation appears to have markedly changed.
Over 1,000 people took part in the poll, and the results were as close as the Referendum vote in June, 2016. Should Covid-19 prompt a Brexit transition period extension? Not for 53 per of those that took part in the poll. The remaining 47 per cent agree that there should be a pause.
“No need to stop negotiations because of plague or pestilence, our advanced civilisation has given us the phone & Skype, no need for face to face,” said john.
Echoing this sentiment Tim Harrison said: “We live in a connected world, do people need to be in the same room, let alone the same country to negotiate in this day and age…No need for pointless flights, road travel, expensive lunches and extra security, just a thought, it is after all the 21st Century.
Some interesting thoughts on virtual and real meetings can be found at Steve Jobs on the Importance of Face–to-Face Meetings (Even in the Age of iPhones)
Back in the comments, James Head said: “It is obvious the current situation needs Governments and Civil Services to devote most of their time and resources at tackling the virus outbreak whilst keeping day to day operations in place. Anything like Brexit negotiations must be put on hold as they are far less important than the current crisis.”
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We live in a connected world, do people need to be in the same room, let alone the same country to negotiate in this day and age.
Just think of the money that could be saved and the reduced impact on the environment it would have if this could all be thrashed out from peoples front rooms whilst having a nice cup of tea. No need for pointless flights, road travel, expensive lunches and extra security, just a thought, it is after all the 21st Centaury.
The French are just going to try and block everything anyway so may as well do it over a VC!
Project fear is back, alive and kicking.
As a remainer I should like to prolong our membership of the EU for as long as possible.
But I vote NO because blaming a flawed deal on this episode is no excuse for failure.
What about option 3: Leave earlier, get control of our borders faster.
Then we can concentrate on locking ourselves away in our homes and nailing crooked pieces of wood across the windows.
No need to stop negotiations because of plague or pestilence, our advanced civilisation has given us the phone & Skype, no need for face to face .
WE voted to leave the EU.
It will bring us pain, but WE voted to be out by Dec.
Therefore WE should be out by Dec & let the pain begin !!!
As for Coronavirus, I’m sure our ‘Glorious Leader Boris’ has a plan to save us all !
I strongly agree. In fact, I rather suspect that the only think that might cause the UK side to request and extension would be if Dominic Cummins were to catch the Covid-19 virus…and I’m not quite wicked enough to wish for that.
If the coronavirus situation makes negotiation impossible then I think it reasonable that we should give consideration to a request from the EU for an extension. Until that time, if and when it happens, we have set a deadline and should stick with it.
This seems a question that you are only looking on what is better for Britain and not a global view. Maybe this is why Britain wanted the Brexit in the first place as considered that we can always do better than any foreigner to solve the problem.
How many more extensions should be asked for?
With so many British citizens (including old age pensioners around europe/world who should be invoiced when they fall ill. The country they are in or the country of the passport they hold?
… and hanging garlic on our front doors too?
No – it’s time the government earned it’s keep !
Such an emotive issue, let’s stick to engineering issues please.
52:48 well well
Covid19 makes no difference to the in/out ongoing battle/boredom. It does show the need for the UK to be more self reliant on food, energy, medicine & sanitary supplies. Time for a bit of reshoring. Why are all the Labour leader candidates silent about reshoring?
Concluding an extensive trade deal by the end of December was already being described as massively challenging before Covid-19. The Civil Service is currently pre-occupied with health emergency issues and I imagine almost all Brexit issues have been parked until the crisis has abated. Furthermore the EU, Italy, France, Germany, Spain are all managing their own corona virus crises, so they won’t be focussing on Brexit either. I don’t understand the objections to giving ourselves more time to get the best deal possible. The die is cast, we are leaving the EU, the cabinet are all pro Brexit, why shoot ourselves in the foot by dogmatically sticking to an unrealistic timeframe?
Can anybody identify the engineering issue that is at stake?
It’s a broad question about the health and resilience of the UK economy, of which engineering / manufacturing is a major part.
I believe that the main engineering issue at stake is the presence of one of the very last opportunities to engineer a stay in the EU. If there is an economic slowdown, what better time for us to make a clean break. It would be a bit like doing ones major maintenance in the holiday shutdown. Let’s get Brexit done.
What happens to these polls, the results are not often published, could the end results be made available on the website??
The results are always published one week later
It is obvious the current situation needs Governments and Civil Services to devote most of their time and resources at tackling the virus outbreak whilst keeping day to day operations in place. Anything like Brexit negotions must be put on hold as they are far less important then the current crisis.
As at the end of March there were 430,075 civil servants in the Home Civil service alone. As on the whole they work within their departments I am confident that they can cope with Brexit and the Corona virus crisis.
I agree, it’s not like there’s an unprecedented international crisis going on or anything!