Theresa May asks EU about Brexit transition beyond 2020

LONDON: UK PM Theresa May is asking the EU for flexibility on the length of the Brexit transition period with just over a year before the country leaves the bloc.

The UK has said it wants an implementation period to last around two years, while the EU has stipulated an end date of Dec. 31, 2020. But the latest draft proposal from the UK suggests it wants a longer bridging phase that lasts until it is no longer needed. That risks inflaming May’s already tense relations with Conservative euroskeptics.

“The UK believes the period’s duration should be determined simply by how long it will take to prepare and implement the new processes and new systems that will underpin the future partnership,” May’s government said in a draft legal document seen by Bloomberg. “The UK agrees this points to a period of around two years, but wishes to discuss with the EU the assessment that supports its proposed end date,” according to the draft.


Stewart Jackson, Brexit Secretary Davis Davis’s chief of staff, insisted the government hasn’t changed its plan for a transition period lasting “around two years.”

The legal text sets out the UK’s proposals for a transitional agreement to take effect after it leaves the EU in March 2019. The idea of a transition phase is to smooth the UK’s path out of the bloc and give time for British and European businesses to adjust to the new arrangements.