Forget COVID, Brexit's back
With a 42,000-person coronavirus death toll and a horror show of an economy that posted a 20% second-quarter nosedive, Britons are emphatically not interested in Brexit. But with the clock ticking on a UK–European Union exit deal and both sides digging in for a bruising negotiation battle, Brexit is very much interested in them.
That and other important news means that COVID-survivor Boris Johnson has a busy next few months. Here’s what’s on his mind.
Were it not for a global pandemic, Brexit would be on every political lip in Europe and beyond. Relations between the UK and the EU are in a twilight zone known as the “transition period,” with Britain still subject to EU law while the future relationship is negotiated. That period ends on December 31, 2020, and ongoing negotiations have led nowhere.
The EU fears that London plans to become a low-tax, light-regulation “Singapore-on-Thames,” undercutting Europeans countries. In response, the bloc is calling for a “level playing field,” meaning rules to ensure that businesses on both sides compete on equal terms — a major sticking point, as the UK wants maximum room to chart a post-Brexit trade policy.
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