Hope for Brexit trade deal still not lost

By Chathushka Perera

LONDON, UK (CWBN)_ Reiterating his comments to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, UK’s Chief Brexit Negotiator, David Frost, said last night that a Brexit trade deal is “still possible” via Twitter.

The tweet read that, “Some people are asking why we are still talking. My answer is that it’s my job to do my utmost to see if the conditions for a deal exists. It’s late, but a deal is still possible and I will continue to talk until it’s clear that it isn’t.”

Frost’s message precedes the recommencement of in-person negotiations today (Nov 28). Negotiations were halted about two weeks ago when Michel Barnier, the Head of Task Force for Relations with the UK, went into self-isolation after a member of his team tested positive for Covid-19.

Despite Johnson’s claims of a stop to negotiations and a “no-deal Brexit” on the 16^th of October, which was later reinforced by Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Grove, during a parliamentary session held three days later, leaving former PM Theresa May in a state of shock over the government’s policies with regard to law enforcement and security cooperation with Brussels.

However, well into the his speech, Grove made a serious ‘U’ turn to his rhetoric by informing Parliament that a conversation between Frost was able to convince the EU to agree to “the intensification of talks and also to working on legal texts.”

On the 23^rd of this month, Irish PM (Taoiseach), Michael Martin, commented that a trade is still possible should both the UK and EU attempt to rebuild their trust in each other, after the derailment of relations caused by the UK’s Internal Market Bill.

Morover, the bill would have also been in direct violation of provision from the Good Friday Agreement (1998) which had put an end to the regional conflict of the 1960s.

Even US President-elect Joe Biden raised his concerns regarding the bill, which would have been in serious breach of international law, setting a dangerous precedence, had it not been overwhelmingly knocked down in the House of Lords.

Edited by Elishya Perera