The U.K. and the European Union now aim to finalize the terms of their split by mid-November, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the British and European positions, later than the October deadline regularly mentioned in public.
That would be yet another slippage in the Brexit talks, which had first been mooted to be resolved by June. That deadline has long been missed, and the next target was the EU summit of heads of state that begins Oct. 18.
The U.K. is slated to leave the EU on March 29, and both the EU and British parliaments need to ratify the deal, which would regulate the U.K.’s relationship with the remaining 27 EU nations.
Among the many thorny issues being negotiated is how to handle the border between Ireland, an EU member, and neighboring Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., given the peace that has reigned between the two following the violence of the “Troubles” and heavy fortification of the border. Ireland has said it won’t accept a “hard” border with customs checks, and the U.K. government has said there won’t be one, but also says Northern Ireland won’t remain in a customs union aligned with the EU.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday insisted that a so-called no-deal Brexit “wouldn’t be the end of the world” days after Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, warned it would add to U.K. borrowing costs and curb growth. While leaving the EU next March without a new trade deal “wouldn’t be a walk in the park,” she said, the U.K. could still make it an economic success.
The U.K. government last week presented the first batch of many documents outlining advice for British businesses in the event of a messy breakup with the block. One recommendation is that health-care providers stockpile six weeks of medicine in case imports are delayed following Brexit. One anti-Brexit group says that alone will cost 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion).
Read: The 60 events that could rattle stock markets and investors in the months ahead
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