UK government published today the negotiation mandate with EU in the document titled “The Future Relationship with the EU The UK’s Approach to Negotiations“. There the UK government threatens to walk out from the table by June if not enough progress is made.
UK reiterated that it “will not extend the transition period”. That still “leaves a limited but sufficient” time to reach an agreement. After an “appropriate number of negotiating rounds” between now and June, UK would hope that “the broad outline of an agreement would be clear and be capable of being rapidly finalised by September”.
However, “if that does not seem to be the case at the June meeting, the Government will need to decide whether the UK’s attention should move away from negotiations and focus solely on continuing domestic preparations to exit the transition period in an orderly fashion.”
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove told parliament that “a the end of the transition period on the 31st of December, the United Kingdom will fully recover its economic and political independence. We want the best possible trading relationship with the EU, but in pursuit of a deal we will not trade away our sovereignty.”
