Boris Johnson feels ‘deep regret’ for missing his 31 October Brexit deadline
Boris Johnson has apologised to Conservative party members for not fulfilling his 31 October “do or die” Brexit pledge.
The Prime Minister continually claimed he would not ask for a Brexit extension, saying “he would rather die in a ditch” than ask Brussels to extend the 31 October deadline.
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When asked by Sky News’ Sophy Ridge this morning if he would apologise to Tory members who voted for him to be leader, he responded: “Of course…it’s a matter of deep regret.”
He said the fault for the delay lay with parliament for not voting through his deal in his specified timeframe and for passing the so-called Benn act.
However, when asked if he accepted some responsibility, Johnson said: “I do and I’m deeply, deeply disappointed.”
Johnson also denied any need to extend the transition period past December 2020 if his Brexit deal passes through parliament.
If the Conservatives win a majority, and then pass the Prime Minister’s deal, it would give the UK one year to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU.
It took Canada and Japan six and seven years respectively to broker a free trade deal.
Johnson refused definitively to rule out that there would be no extension, but said there is “no reason whatever” to extend the transition period.
He added the trade negotiations with the EU “should be extremely simple.”
He said: “We already have zero tariffs and zero quotas.
“We already have regulatory and legislative alignment.”
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One trade expert immediately dismissed this claim as “unrealistic”.
David Henig, UK director of the European Centre For International Political Economy and trade, said it was: “Not only unrealistic, but bad for UK – [it] would give us 10 months to decide many years of future economic policy.”