In preparation for Brexit, the United Kingdom (UK) has published its Common External Tariff, scheduled to take effect on January 1st, 2021, at the end of the transition period established in the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
Following a decisive win by the conservative party in a recent UK General Election, on December 20th, 2019 the UK House of Commons approved the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) governing the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU). In parallel, the bill was approved by European Parliament on January 29th, 2020.
Parliament in the United Kingdom is currently debating approval of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) that outlines a potential future relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union after Brexit.
The UK has requested that the European Union extend the Brexit deadline to January 31, 2020, in order to properly scrutinize this bill. Additionally, the Prime Minister has called for a general election to occur in December, if an extension is granted.
A change in Prime Minister in the UK on July 24th has renewed focus on Brexit and its impacts across the Eurozone. Currently, the UK is set to leave the European Union (EU) on October 31st, with or without a deal. Given that the current withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK has been voted down three times by the UK parliament, and due to the renewed political prioritization of no-deal planning by the current government, trade compliance professionals are building their Brexit plans with the assumption of no deal.
Topics: Brexit
The presentation of the government’s budget before Parliament has always been an interesting affair. The perfunctory annual photo of the Chancellor of the Exchequer standing in front of Number 11 Downing Street with the red briefcase containing the Government’s budget for the year always seems to make a dull affair more interesting.
