I would like to believe that an extension is inevitable, but I think we are still a long way from that.
#Brexit https://twitter.com/jl_owen/status/1250465491975581697

Yes, civil servants are being repurposed to work on #Covid19, but not those negotiating with the #EU.

Yes, some post #Brexit benefits will be delayed (e.g. #trade deal with the US), but the primary benefit in the minds of this govt. (complete UK sovereignty, as explained by David Frost in his lecture earlier in the yr), is delayed further by an extension.

Yes, a bad deal, or no deal comes with (in my view) dire econ. consequences, but govt. don’t share this view. They believe the costs are small, & outweighed by the freedom to regulate freely & in a way that they believe suits the UK. Sovereignty trumps econ. cost.

Add to this that agreeing an extension exposes the PM to a potential Parliamentary rebellion, as the EU (Withdrawl Agreement) Act 2020, prohibits govt from agreeing an extension and wld need amending.

Given all this, it doesn’t seem to me that an extension is inevitable. It only wld be if govt. believed it absolutely had to get a deal, & was willing to pick a fight with its backbench, but it doesn’t and isn’t.

#Brexit