Gove says UK 'well prepared' for no-deal Brexit, even while businesses sound alarmed
19 October, 2020
Michael Gove, the minister handling Brexit divorce issues for Britain, said on Sunday (Oct 18) that the united kingdom is "increasingly well-prepared" for a no-deal Brexit even while businesses urged Britain and the European Union to discover a compromise over trade terms.
A tumultuous "no-deal" finale to the United Kingdom's five-year Brexit crisis would sow chaos through the delicate supply chains that stretch across Britain, the EU and beyond - just as the economic hit from the COVID-19 pandemic worsens.
"It isn't my recommended destination," Gove said within an opinion piece in the Sunday Times newspaper.
"But if the choice is between arrangements that tie our hands indefinitely, or where we are able to shape our very own future, then that's no choice at all. And leaving on Australian conditions is an outcome that we are increasingly well-prepared".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that Britain should get ready for a deal with the European Union like the one Australia has, "predicated on simple principles of global free trade".
A so-called "Australia deal" signifies that the United Kingdom would trade on World Trade Organization terms: As a country lacking any EU trade agreement, like Australia, tariffs would be imposed under WTO rules, likely causing significant price rises.
Johnson's critics say that an Australian-style deal is merely code for no deal at all with Britain's most significant export market. Australia's trade with the EU is dwarfed by Britain's.
More than 70 British business groups representing more than 7 million personnel made a last-ditch attempt on Sunday to persuade politicians to make contact with the negotiating table in a few days and strike a Brexit deal.
The groups ranged from the Confederation of British Industry, The City UK, and techUK to the National Farmers' Union, British Retail Consortium and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Gove has previously said that as the British government wanted an agreement with Brussels, it had been not going be "held hostage".
"It will require a fundamental change in attitude, policy and politics from the EU to get things back on the right track," Gove wrote in the Sunday Times.
"As things stand, that won't happen, and the EU's decisions finally week's summit have, in place, ended those trade talks," he added.
At what was said to be the "Brexit summit" on Thursday, the EU delivered an ultimatum: it said it had been concerned by too little progress and called on London to yield on key sticking points or see a rupture of ties with the bloc from Jan 1 after the end of the Brexit transition period.
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that British business minister Alok Sharma is seeking cash from the Treasury to greatly help businesses navigate a no-deal Brexit.
"With compromise and tenacity, a deal can be achieved. Businesses ask leaders on both sides to find a route through", business groups said in their joint statement on Sunday.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com