The British government yesterday urged businesses to get ready for the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of the year, as talks on a free-trade deal with the EU remained deadlocked.
British ministers said time was running out and that firms need to finalize their preparations to avoid potential disruption when the new rules start on Jan. 1.
The UK formally left the EU on Jan. 31, nearly four years after a referendum on membership that divided the kingdom and paralyzed its politics.
Photo: AFP
Under the divorce agreement struck with Brussels, the UK remains bound by EU rules for the rest of the year.
Nerves over life outside the EU are increasingly frayed, given the impasse in trade negotiations, but the British government has remained upbeat and argues that the UK would prosper whatever the result of the talks.
“Regardless of the outcome of our negotiations with the EU, there are guaranteed changes that businesses must prepare for now,” British Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said. “There is no time to lose.”
The plea for readiness came as the British government also launched a new Border Operations Centre to be manned around the clock by a team of officials to monitor the UK border. It is to rely on software that gathers information about the flow of goods and people in real time.
The new technology would allow the government and local police to make “rapid decisions to ensure any disruption is minimized,” the British government said.
Brexit supporters narrowly won the argument for leaving the EU in 2016 with a claim that it would restore the UK’s control over its borders, but there are fears the kingdom’s imminent departure from the EU’s single market and customs union after nearly 50 years could cause chaos at ports and logistics hubs.
Businesses have complained of inadequate preparations and contingency planning, with accusations that British ministers are underestimating the sheer scale of the challenge ahead.
Deal or no deal, increased red tape in the form of customs declarations and permits is to replace largely seemless transportation of goods to and from the EU.
British tourists and business travelers also face the prospect of long waits at border control on both sides of the English Channel, and at airports.
The British Cabinet Office, which is in charge of Brexit preparations, yesterday said that the changes “will likely mean that there is short-term disruption at the border.”
However, the Border Operations Centre, which is to analyze historical trends and have predictive capability, is part of plans “to develop the world’s most effective border by 2025,” it said.
Last-ditch UK-EU trade talks continued in London this week, with fishing rights still proving a key stumbling block to securing a deal by the end of the year.
Agreeing rules over common standards and state aid regulations are also long-running sticking points, with both sides appearing unwilling to compromise.
“We remain committed to try to achieve it [a deal] as soon as possible,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters on Monday. “We’ve been clear we won’t change our negotiating position.”
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