UK health service urges Brexit extension to avoid Covid-19 disaster
It warns that no-deal outcome could push already-struggling hospitals 'over the edge'
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson watching a woman getting the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in London on Dec 8. As Britain struggles to contain a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases, National Health Service leaders said a month's extension of the Brexit transition period would take hospitals away from "the immediate danger zone".
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LONDON • Britain's public health service yesterday urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to extend the country's Brexit transition period or risk pushing hospitals already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic "over the edge" in the event of a no-deal departure from the EU single market.
As Britain struggles to contain a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases caused by an apparently more transmissible variant of the virus, National Health Service (NHS) leaders said a month's delay would take hospitals away from "the immediate danger zone".
They warned Mr Johnson that the "disruptive changes" posed by a no-deal outcome would hit just as the NHS is "battling the greatest challenge in its history during what is traditionally its busiest time of year".
"The NHS might not be perceived to be on the Brexit negotiating table, but the disruption shockwaves from a no-deal outcome could push the NHS' ability to function over the edge," the NHS Confederation, one of the health service's umbrella organisations, said in a letter.
"Given we are days away from the cliff edge, we urge you to extend the transition period by a month, buying the NHS a precious few extra weeks and enabling the UK to leave the EU after a one-year transition period."
Britain formally left the European Union on Jan 31 after five decades of integration, but a transition period - during which it remains bound by the bloc's rules - ends on Dec 31.
The spread of the new strain of the coronavirus across southern England - believed to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible - has forced border closures and threatened supply chains just as London and Brussels approach the deadline to negotiate their future trade arrangements.
NHS leaders said the current travel chaos could be just a foretaste of the crisis if Britain leaves the EU without any trade deal.
"Should a deal not be reached, the magnitude and extent of disruption will be of a much greater order," the leaders warned.
The NHS faces having to make major adjustments in a short timespan as new rules, guidance and information will be introduced from Jan 1 in the event of a no-deal departure from the EU.
The overhaul would come amid soaring virus cases and a vaccine roll-out that has just begun, while NHS workers are exhausted and depleted, the confederation said.
Britain, which began a mass vaccination programme this month, has seen one of the highest death tolls from the virus in Europe, with more than 68,000 deaths.
On Tuesday, it registered a record 36,804 new infections, bringing the total to more than 2.1 million positive cases.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr Johnson refused to consider an extension to the transition period.
A government spokesman said Britain was exploring "every route to a deal" and added NHS "will thrive after the transition period".
Britain and the EU are still locked in a stalemate over the Brexit trade deal due to serious disagreements about competition and fishing, a British minister said yesterday.
Thus far, no deal has been done and both sides have given an exhausting array of conflicting signals that indicate, variously, that a deal is imminent, that talks have far to go and that a disorderly no-trade deal exit could be on the cards.
"There are still the same serious areas of disagreement whether that's on fisheries or the level playing field," British Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday. "But at the moment, there isn't sufficient progress. It isn't a deal that the Prime Minister feels he can sign us up to."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
