Boris Johnson rejects calls to extend Brexit negotiations into 2021 despite deadlock

Downing Street has rejected calls from conservative MPs and other lawmakers urging to extend Brexit talks beyond the New Year, stating that any trade deal has to be in place and approved before December 31. A spokesman for PM Boris Johnson also dismissed the idea of ratifying the trade deal in retrospect and said that the House of Commons would have a vote on any agreement before it came into force, The Guardian reported. With both the EU and the UK still at loggerheads regarding post-Brexit trade deals, lawmakers have urged the administration to extend the talks beyond the designated transition period.  

Conservation urge extention 

Some Conservative MPs have argued that leaving without a trade deal amidst disrupted freight and escalating pandemic should be avoided. Urging the Prime Minister to "pause the clock", former defence minister Tobias Ellwood asserted that the present conditions were far from ideal to end the transition.

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His opinion was reiterated by Simon Hoare, the North Dorset MP, who said that it was time for maturity and warned that "daily clarity of dangers" to the country’s economy was alarming. London Mayor Sadiq Khan is reported to have said that the idea of leaving the EU without a trade deal "was reckless even before the latest surge in COVID cases."

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However, Labour leader Keir Starmer, declined on December 21 to back a possible extension, saying that he wanted Johnson to deliver a deal this week. Saying that he didn’t want an extension, he wanted a deal, Starner asked Johnson to "Get on and deliver the deal" that he promised. 

The Boris Johnson administration has also denied any possibility of extension asserting that the end of the transition period is set out in the law. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that it was "absolutely not" going to happen.

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