No deal Brexit during second wave of epidemic

The army will be deployed to the streets to help police maintain public order in the UK as the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is expected to coincide with the seemingly no deal exit from the European Union on 31 December. The Brits will also send the navy to sea to prevent clashes between British and EU fishing boats, but the issue of a blockade was also on the table.

POLITICS AUGUST 24. 2020 12:03

The second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is beginning in the UK, but it is not the only thing the British government can worry about. The seventh round of UK-EU negotiations, which took place last week, still did not bring breakthrough success, making it increasingly likely that Britain s transition period out of the bloc could end on 31 December without a deal. The Sun reports that the emergency scenario the government have developed will seek to address both problems simultaneously and in both cases with the assistance of the military.  

The first issue is maintaining public order. The government plans to deploy the army to the streets to help police manage public disorder and possible riots. Problems are indeed to be expected, as the Cabinet Office s EU transition task force has informed the ministers. In addition to border and customs issues, the management of hospitals overloaded due to Covid-19 could be a serious problem in the winter, exacerbated by interruptions in food and medicine supplies. It is also projected that about 8,500 trucks could get stuck at Dover and power cuts could occur across the country. A worst case scenario even warns that several districts could go bankrupt, which will only worsen the local health situation.

As negotiations have remained unsuccessful and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Friday swept aside the British proposal on trade, fisheries and security agreements again, conflicts over maritime trade are also arising. The UK has already indicated that it is ready to set up a blockade and use the navy to prevent conflicts between British and EU fishing vessels.

POLITICS

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Brexit, corona, eu, negotiations, pandemic, uk, virus