Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said that interim arrangements for Britain's exit from the EU will be put in place if Brexit negotiations are not concluded in 2019.
According to Hammond, the agreement on Brexit can be reached in two years if there is a political will on both sides.
Thus, the Chancellor seemed to be more prudent than Prime Minister Theresa May who had said that Britain would fully reject agreements with the EU if London would not get the needed conditions. May strives to keep tariff-free trade with Europe, but at the same time wants to let the UK make trade deals with other countries.
However, the terms of Britain's exit will have to be agreed by the rest 27 EU member countries, so the two-year time frame looks overly optimistic.
“If somehow, despite our best efforts, political retribution were to triumph over economic logic and we don’t get a fair deal providing the reasonable access to each other’s markets…we will have to do whatever is necessary to ensure the continued competitiveness of our economy in those circumstances,” Hammond said at the World Economic Forum.
