'No realistic prospect' of UK-EU trade deal before leave deadline

Some of the most prominent names in British business have said they believe there is “no realistic prospect” a trade deal will be struck before the UK leaves the European Union.

Justin King, who spent a decade as chief exec of supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, is skeptical that the UK will be able to settle on a deal before the leave deadline of March 2019.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “The people we’ve got have never done anything remotely like this – they will be doing something for which they have no experience, skills or formal set of rules, and that is not a recipe for success.

“When you overlay that with a tight timetable, and 27 parties who all have a vested interest – there is no realistic prospect of doing a deal. It will have to be transitional of some sort – people don’t like that word – but I think that’s what we will have to have.”

Others echoed Mr King on the impossibility of signing a deal within the next two years.

Trades Union Congress Secretary General Frances O’Grady told Sky News that to think a deal could be done before the leave deadline would be “extremely optimistic”.

Farmers’ union boss Meurig Raymond said it may take until the end of the next parliament.

Tim Martin of pub chain Wetherspoons, an outspoken Leave supporter during the build-up to the EU Referendum last year, also told Sky News that a deal was unfeasible given the time frame for negotiation.

He commented: “I think we’re better off if we say to the Europeans: ‘Listen guys we’re happy to trade on WTO [World Trade Organisation] rules so if you want a trade deal give us a bell, if not we’ll get on with organising trade deals with other countries’.

“If you say we must have a deal at all costs, you can’t negotiate a good deal. It’s like me saying that I must buy your house, at all costs but that I’m not going to pay market price but what you think I can afford.”

March 2019 will be two years since the triggering of the Article 50 process.

If there is no trade deal in place then, the Government may have to choose between walking away without an agreement or extending talks for longer.

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