Full Brexit will be longer takes up to seven years
Theresa May is set to ask the European Union for an extra transition period that would see full Brexit delayed until around seven years after the vote to Leave.
Under the plans, briefed by government officials to The Timesnewspaper, the whole of the United Kingdom would stay aligned with EU regulations and customs procedures until 2023 to help avoid a hard border in Ireland. It comes on top of a two-year transition period from 2019 to the start of 2021 which has already been agreed.
The latest plan for a longer transition is intended as a replacement for the border backstop agreed by negotiators in December under which the UK would maintain full alignment with the single market if no other solution could be found, to remove the need for border checks.
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