Uncertainty abounds as Britain approaches EU exit deadline
Businesses are stepping up their contingency plans for a disorderly Brexit as key points remain unresolved two years after the EU Referendum, lawyers say.
The beleaguered EU Withdrawal Act gained Royal Assent this week, but the government has still not published its eagerly-anticipated White Paper on Brexit, and lawyers remain concerned about the lack of progress ahead of the UK’s exit on 29 March 2019.
Charles Brasted, partner in the Hogan Lovells Brexit Taskforce, said: ‘We are already seeing clients accelerate their own contingency plans, including for the possibility of a disorderly exit with no withdrawal agreement in place. Although 80% of the Withdrawal Agreement has been agreed, crucial aspects are unagreed and there will be no agreement unless it can all be resolved.’
Brasted said businesses in a whole range of sectors are hoping for ‘detailed and precise explanation of the government’s plans’ in the White Paper.
‘Both the UK and the EU are still aiming to agree the Withdrawal Agreement and a political declaration on the framework of the future relationship by October this year,’ he said.
‘However, if significant progress is not made over the summer, this target may need to be revised. Some already believe agreement is not likely until late 2018 or even early 2019. The message from business continues to be “plan for the worst, hope for the best”. The focus on the former is certainly growing by the day.’
Writing in NLJ this week, David Greene, NLJ consultant editor and senior partner at Edwin Coe, said: ‘Industry clients and, now, law firms are planning for the worst, a crash out in nine months, with Airbus and BMW the latest to plead for early certainty. Other than a broad optimism that everyone will see sense, there is little on the horizon that suggests that a crash out is not a distinct possibility’.
