to think it's madness to not ask for an extension to transition period?

[BaileysforBreakfast]

The government has approximately 36 days in which to decide whether to ask for an extension to the transition period. If they don't, we have only 7.5 months to hammer out a deal with the EU while we are in the grip of a worldwide crisis. If a deal isn't reached, we will have no trade agreement in place in December. It's possible, of course, that we may make agreements with other countries before then.

Cards on the table - I am opposed to Brexit and have always thought it was madness. IMO people in this country are suffering enough at the moment. Our economy is in a dangerous place right now and it would be reckless to not ask for an extension. What do others think?

YANBU - we should request an extension to the transition period
YABU - we should go ahead regardless

if we ask for an extension, then we will have to contribute towards Italy and Spain, CV budget deficit (as we were a net contributor), whereas we have our own problems now

if we ask for an extension, then we will have to contribute towards Italy and Spain

There is no reason to suppose this would be the case. The extension is granted on the basis of continued contributions at the existing agreed levels, incorporating all our rebates and opt-outs.

@milveycrohn

I have already explained up-thread that this is not true.

We are not in the Eurozone (we use the British Pound) and therefore have agreements in place which mean we will not be "liable" for Eurozone Bailouts. (You should also remember that these are loans anyway - not aid).
While our membership fees do in principal go into the pot, we are essentially insured against the bailed-out countries defaulting on the loans and would be compensated in the event of non re-payment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36456277

fullfact.org/europe/will-uk-pay-future-eurozone-bailouts/

I really wish people would stop guessing / making things up (not just about the EU same goes for Covid and all sorts of things...) and posting it as "fact" on the internet. I'm no expert in EU matters but it just took 10 seconds on Google to find a couple of fairly reliable sources of information.

Do Brexiters really want to gamble their and everyone else's future on a project founded on so many mis-truths and downright lies? (This is just one of hundreds!) Which even as we are now seemingly committed to doing this, are still being repeated over and over?

Do you people really think this will end well?
Genuine question. Please can someone explain the logic of constantly ignoring reality / making things up and thinking everything will somehow be fine just because you want it to be?

No Deal Brexit and a Global Pandemic.

And we thought 2020 was bad. Roll on 2021!!!

get that you were a remainer but those days are gone. People need to stop looking back at the "glory days" and look forward to the future.

Haha, if people did this then we wouldn't have had brexit to begin with.

I think it needs to be extended!
We all saw how quickly the supermarket shelves emptied just prior to the lockdown starting and the supermarkets used lots of their no deal Brexit supplies to get the shelves filled up again!
China was locked down for months, affecting the world wide supply of goods, most of Europe have been locked down for months and we're struggling to get our own crops picked in the Country!

A no deal end to the transition period before we've all recovered for all that would be an absolute disaster!

Of course it's madness to continue on with what will be a certain no-deal brexit.

But good luck expecting the idiots who voted for it to grasp that.

Sorry just realised I didn't answer the OP. In case it wasn't clear from my other posts, YANBU!

Business as usual on the Brexit threads. Isn’t it nice to have some kind of normality?

Of course it needs to be extended. The government and businesses had a year to prepare, the pandemic has taken that away. They need that time.

The UK is so incompetent regarding anything they try to do. I suppose that comes from a sense of hubris/arrogance, or blind allegiance to dodgy advisers, I don't know.

Boris might resign on ill health grounds in time. He got what he wanted, to be PM, doesn't matter to him anymore I'd guess. He is a lazy idiot too. But kind of likeable, no scratch that.

I wouldn't trust this Government at all to look after OUR interests, only theirs. But not sure if any Gov could have done differently really. But wait, other countries did, but not ours.

Am disappointed in them all. They could have brought us all together, but it is just not happening apart from a clap or two on a Thursday night. Awful leadership. Well none actually.

Stay safe everyone and hope this will pass.

Meant to add that of course Brexit transition should be extended. I think the EU would be happy to do so also. We are all in this together, and no need for anyone to be top dog. Do it right, be conciliatory and look after the country.

YANBU

It's crazy that they think they can manage this properly with COVID - 19 going on.

Whatever the case, no progress has been made. No substantive negotiations have been completed. If no deal can be negotiated, we go over the cliff edge with an economy that has been severely damaged by the Covid crisis.

No need to worry though. Trump will be waiting for us at the bottom of the cliff with a broad smile on his orange face.

In his hand will be a large pot of lube.

Brace yourselves!

Economists are predicting the worst economic crisis for centuries. The government will have its hands completely full trying to deal with not only this but the healthcare implications of the pandemic for the rest of the year at the very least. They have to try to find a way to get the economy moving while preventing a second wave of virus infections. They have to organise and manage the impact of social distancing across the whole population for months. Nobody in government is going to have five minutes to spare dealing with negotiating a Brexit deal and it is utter, utter madness that anyone would even consider adding another burden to an already crippled economy at the current time.

Even ultra-Brexit loons like Isabel Oakeshott think extending the transition is a no-brainer in the current circumstances.

I'm surprised to see Oakeshott write that. I wonder what all the other Brexit cheerleaders think now? I wonder whether seeing the government's poor management of Covid will have given them pause for thought in terms of how competently Johnson & Co might manage a no-deal departure?

A month ago, Farage was saying the Covid disaster would make the public less fearful of a no-deal Brexit. A lot of people have died since he said that. A lot of people have lost their jobs. A lot of people have seen what (temporary) food shortages look like. I can only speak for myself, but Covid has made me more fearful of no deal, not less.

As does her BF, Richard Tice, Brexit party chair.

Strange times!

But (currently) 20% of people who have read this thread think we should just go right ahead. Baffling.

We have elected a government that can only cope with one thing at a time. They couldn't plan for Covid because they were thinking about Brexit. Now the pandemic is upon us they can't think about Brexir. Given that and we can't postpone Covid, the sensible thing would be to postpone Brexit. But that would require 2 trains of thought at the same time again, so we are stuffed.

The EU is fucked. They don't even give a toss about helping Italy - one of their members.

How many Italians did the UK bring over to their ICUs? Is that fewer or more than the Germans did?

We'll see what happens, but the thing about the UK that worries me is what are you going to be negotiating with and about? There is nearly no manufacturing - what is your biggest export? who needs that most?

Every country is going to be hamstrung by COVID and some will recover better/quicker than others. But being a tiny, sole negotiator with China, Russia, Turkey, US and the EU may not be a brilliant thing. it may turn out to be the best thing ever for the UK but that's not what I'm putting my money on right now.

Isobel Oakeshott wrote that...

Maybe it just takes one cheerleader to break first and the rest will follow?

if Oakeshott is writing that we must be in end times or a parallel universe.

There are different types of bailouts and EU funding. Some are in the form of EURO loans, and the UK has nothing to do with those.

Others are to do with regional support and parts of the UK were very much part of that (Cornwall and the NE of England spring to mind) and that funding will be stopped. Right after Brexit some of the MPs and Mayors from those areas in receipt of EU funding asked the Government of the day (i realise things change) to confirm that the funding from the EU would be replaced by the UK. And received a resounding "no" as a reply.

So, yes, on the one hand EU bailouts / loans won't be the UK's problem. On the other hand funding will be missing.

Since we all seem to be pretty much agreed that 2020 is a write-off regarding just about everything, it would make a lot of sense for a 12 month extension to the Brexit shenanegins. Just to make sure everyone gets the best deal possible, surely?

newbie111
the FTSE100 index tends to rise.This is because around 70% of the FTSE100’s revenues come from overseas, with a large proportion of that denominated in US dollars." Yes, and since this revenue is earned and taxed overseas, there is no real benefit to the UK economy except for those who hold the shares.

Dec 2017 -
"Britain's biggest companies are contributing record amounts of tax to the Exchequer" ...

"Firms in the FTSE 100 index helped generate £82.9 billion of tax last year."

"The haul represented 13 per cent of total government tax receipts." "The payments include taxes paid directly by the companies, such as corporation tax, the bank levy, business rates and employers' national insurance, as well as taxes that companies collected on behalf of the Government such as income tax."

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-5144851/Record-taxes-paid-FTSE-100-firms.html

"The 100 Group sustained its record tax contribution in 2019 and continues to invest in the UK economy."

"The TTC of the 100 Group in 2019 was £84.7bn."

www.pwc.co.uk/services/tax/total-tax-contribution-100-group.html

@Clavinova: If you think that's a response, you clearly don't get it. The question is: How does a FTSE company's share price, driven by currency fluctuations, affect the tax it pays in the UK? Especially when revenue generated in other territories is subject to tax in those territories.

PS. I think @Clavinova is a bot or a troll.

Yet to see her own thoughts/commentary rather than simply copy-paste. Are you working from some Russian troll farm?