The facts as they stand are that 31 December, the day upon which the UK’s transition period will end, is ticking ever closer, and no trade deal, free or otherwise, has been agreed so far. Should that remain the case, the UK will exit the EU without a deal, and the New Year will see us begin trading with our nearest neighbours on WTO terms – an outcome that has been both feared and celebrated in equal measure. In September Boris Johnson set an informal deadline of 15 October as the day upon which a deal would be struck or therewould be no deal at all. But that day has come and gone and still trade negotiations rumble on.
In all likelihood, a trade deal will be reached – you only have to look as far as sterling’s sanguine response to the latest Brexit developments to see that is the expectation. Indeed, such has been the disruption caused by Covid-19 that it would not appear to be in either the UK or EU’s interests to create yet more uncertainty and the possibility of further economic pain. Similar negotiations in the past have often been resolved at the 11th hour, and the gap between the two negotiating sides has narrowed to the point where it no longer feels like an untraversable chasm.