UK to Leave EU Before Jan 31: MacMillan

The Brexit ball is in the hands of conservatives after an overwhelming win in the UK parliamentary election. The new government plans to meet Brexit deadlines, rejecting further extensions, including for the transition period that ends with the year 2020. So the United Kingdom takes on the challenge of negotiating a complex relationship with its major trade partner in 11 months. A revised Political Declaration outlines the goal: “an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation with a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement at its core, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defence and wider areas of cooperation.” This could include a free trade area with regulatory cooperation and no tariffs and extra charges. “The Declaration goes on to discuss negotiation of arrangements covering financial services, digital commerce, capital movements and payments, intellectual property, public procurement, mobility of persons, transportation, energy, fishing, global cooperation, law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and foreign policy, security and defense,” explains David Cameron, political science professor at Yale. He identifies the many special parties that must be satisfied, including Scotland and Northern Ireland, and concludes that the hard work for the new government begins. – YaleGlobal