Brexit will enter into force on 29 March 2019. Without an agreement on the terms of future relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, the UK will revert to accessing the EU single market under WTO rules and reestablishing customs controls. This scenario is known as a “fall from the cliff-edge”, as tariff and non-tariff barriers will penalise companies significantly. This scenario of economic chaos cannot be ruled out as the UK government is stalling in making clear its priorities between recovering its sovereignty and losing its access to the single market. This Policy paper by Elvire Fabry and Marco de Toffol analyses the terms of this transition.
Dr. Elvire Fabry is Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute, formally she was the director of the Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique.