A transitional deal is expected to be completed within three years of the UK leaving the European Union, according to the Chancellor.
Philip Hammond said trade deals with third countries may not come into force during the period, but claimed there was a “broad consensus” treaty-based arrangements with the EU would be in force by the next scheduled general election in June 2022.
Mr Hammond said “many things will look similar” on the first day after leaving the bloc in March 2019, and hoped goods would flow across the border between the EU and Britain in “much the same way as they do now” during the transitional period.
(Yui Mok/PA)
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There will be a process between the date we leave the European Union and the date on which the new treaty-based arrangements between the UK and the European Union which we hope and expect to negotiate come into force.”
Mr Hammond did not say how long it would take to put the “necessary arrangements in place”, but said: “People have talked about a year, two years, maybe three years.
“I think there’s a broad consensus that this process has to be completed by the scheduled time of the next General Election, which is in June 2022.”
Philip Hammond (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
He said there was a “broad acceptance” among the Cabinet for a transitional period after March 2019, and told the programme he could “envisage” a situation immediately following Britain’s departure “with many arrangements remaining very similar to how they were the day before we exited the European Union”.
He added: “But over time, those arrangements moving steadily with the introduction of new processes and systems until we get to the new end state, the new normal, that will be our long-term relationship with the European Union.”
The Chancellor said he recognised that it may “take some time” to “negotiate trade deals with third countries” following claims by former EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht that the UK would not be able to strike a trade deal with the US before it has left the EU or during a transitional period.
(Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Mr Hammond said: “We recognise that it will take some time for us to negotiate trade deals with third countries. The important point is that we are able to get started on that process and during a transition period when we would hope to have continued access to the European market.
“It may be that during that period we don’t bring those agreements into force, but it will take us time anyway to negotiate them.”
Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said on Thursday that free movement of labour would end when Britain leaves the EU.
But Mr Hammond said there would be a registration system in place for people coming to work in the UK after Brexit, during the transitional period.
“If they come here to work after we leave the European Union, during that transitional period, the sensible approach will be to seek to register people so that we know who’s coming and who’s going,” he said.
“This is a transitional period that will take us from membership of the European Union to a new future relationship with the European Union which has yet to be negotiated, so the details of our long-term relationship are a matter for the negotiations which David Davis is conducting in Brussels.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel