HEALTHPLAN MAGAZINE

After many months of negotiations, the UK and the EU are still unable to settle their differences and come to an agreement on a post-Brexit trade deal.

It follows a meeting between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European chief Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels which aimed to break the deadlock and clear up the disagreements on fishing, business competition rules and how the deal would be policed.

With talks set to resume today between UK chief negotiator David Frost and EU counterpart Michel Barnier, there are just days left to find a deal with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab saying that discussions were unlikely to go beyond Sunday.

On Thursday morning, in anticipation of a no-deal, the EU set out their own contingency plans that they would implement in the event of an agreement not being found.

With the uncertainty on whether a deal could be reached, Ursula von der Leyen said: “Our responsibility is to be prepared for all eventualities, including not having a deal in place."

With the risk of some industries being disproportionately affected, the commission said that they would be recommending a number of contingency measures to reduce any potential disruptions.

One of the measures would be to maintain air services between the UK and EU for a period of six months, with the UK having to reciprocate.

Other measures would facilitate the movement of road freight and passenger transport for six months and also allow aviation safety certificates to be used in EU aircraft to avoid their grounding.

Another important aspect to the contingency plan was in fishing rights, a particular bone of contention which has become one of the main sticking points since discussions began in March.

The EU wants to see reciprocal fishing access for the UK and EU fleets in each other’s waters for 12 months or until an agreement has been made.

However, it is believed that the measures would be rejected by Downing Street with an official spokesman saying, “I think as we’ve said throughout the negotiations, once we leave the end of the transition period, we will take back control of our waters. We would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state.” Adding that the UK would be "studying the proposals" and had its own contingency plans for a no-deal.

The UK is due to stop following the EU’s trading rules at the end of the transition period on December 31, with the possibility of having to trade with the bloc under WTO rules.

Image Credit: Number 10 - Flickr