What is a no deal Brexit?

A no-deal Brexit means the UK would leave the European Union (EU) immediately on 31 October 2019, and
there would be no agreements in place about what the relationship between the UK and the EU will be like in
future.

This includes special agreements about how UK and EU companies could work and do trade with each other.

A lot of companies have said they are worried about not knowing exactly how their businesses will work if
there is a no-deal Brexit at the end of October.

A lot of people in Parliament don't want a no-deal Brexit to happen, but it's a possible outcome if politicians
can't agree on what should happen next, or if the EU and the UK can't agree on what their relationship should
be like.

Some think that a no-deal Brexit would give the UK more freedom from the EU - one of the reasons that many
people voted for Brexit in the first place..

Brexit divorce bill

The UK and EU began negotiations with differing perspectives on the basis for the bill. The UK side saw it as
payment for preferential access to the European Single Market whereas the EU saw it as obligations previously
agreed to funding the budget round ending 2020 and for share of longer-range commitments

Boris Johnson: no deal would mean UK did not owe Brexit divorce bill
PM says keeping £39bn is not threat but ‘reality’ before meeting with Donald Tusk
Heather Stewart
Sun 25 Aug 2019 07.58 EDT

Boris Johnson has said the £39bn Brexit divorce bill would not “strictly speaking” be owed to Brussels in full in
the event of no deal, insisting: “It’s not a threat. It’s a reality.”
Speaking to broadcasters as he prepared to meet the European council president, Donald Tusk, at the G7
summit in Biarritz, Johnson said: “If we come out without an agreement it is certainly true that the £39bn is
no longer, strictly speaking, owed.”

But Downing Street appears to have conceded that legal obligations for past liabilities may mean up to a
quarter of it may still have to be paid.
The remarks on the divorce bill are likely to infuriate Britain’s EU27 counterparts, who are still awaiting
detailed proposals from London about how to maintain a soft border in Ireland after Brexit..
Asked whether negotiations should resume in Brussels – something he hopes Tusk will approve – Johnson
said: “It is sensible now to get going and we will get going.”
During his media round, Johnson also compared the challenge of Brexit to a rock he had encountered on his
morning swim in the sea at the French Atlantic resort.
“I swam round that rock this morning. From here you cannot tell there is a gigantic hole in that rock. There is
a way through,” he said.
“My point to the EU is that there is a way through, but you can’t find the way through if you just sit on the
beach.”
The prime minister also reiterated that the withdrawal agreement, containing what he has repeatedly
referred to as the “undemocratic” backstop, must be scrapped, because it could not pass through parliament.
Johnson voted for the deal himself at the third time of asking earlier this year, as did several other prominent
Brexiters, including the former Brexit secretary David Davis.
The prime minister is widely believed at Westminster to be drawing up plans for an early general election, in
order to frustrate efforts to tie his hands on Brexit.

UK will refuse to pay £39bn divorce bill in no-deal Brexit

At the G7 summit in Biarritz, the UK prime minister held a cordial meeting with Donald Tusk, president of the
European Council, albeit with no sign of a breakthrough on a revised Brexit deal.

Mr Johnson said the chances of a deal were “improving”, but it was “touch and go” whether one could be
struck.

The prime minister is seeking to renegotiate the UK-EU withdrawal agreement finalised by his predecessor
Theresa May — notably by removing the so-called backstop that is intended to prevent the return of a hard
Irish border. The EU leaders have put the onus on Britain to come up with viable solutions.

Mr Johnson said the UK would not be obliged to hand over a significant portion of the £39bn divorce bill if a
no-deal Brexit happened on October 31.

“If we come out [of the EU] without an agreement it is certainly true that the £39bn is no longer, strictly
speaking, owed,” he told ITV. “There will be very substantial sums available to our country to spend on our
priorities. It’s not a threat, it's a simple fact.”

A Downing Street spokesperson declined to say how much of the divorce bill the UK would pay in the event of
a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Johnson is insisting on the UK leaving the EU on October 31, with or without a deal.

Some of the £39bn divorce bill arises because the UK has pledged contributions towards the EU budget that
have not yet been paid. Britain is also being asked to contribute towards EU staff pension costs that were
incurred before Brexit.

The EU has consistently pushed back against UK suggestions it should not have to pay part or all of the £39bn
divorce bill. An EU official said the money would fall due even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, since it was
linked to financial commitments entered into by Britain.

The official added: “This is all about the obligations of the UK. For us, it’s due whatever the circumstances. It
will be calculated on the exit of the UK.”
A senior EU diplomat said the talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Tusk had taken place in a “positive
atmosphere”, with Brexit taking up about half of their time, but there was no discussion of the £39bn divorce
bill.

The diplomat underscored the scepticism among the other 27 EU member states that the UK has viable
alternative arrangements that will remove the need for the Irish backstop.

“The ball is really squarely and firmly in the UK court,” he said. “They have been telling the press they have new
ideas and eventually they will come up. But they didn’t come up today.

“The brutal fact is that there is nothing. Alternative arrangements have always been part of the agreement —
but we still don’t know what they look like.”

However, the diplomat said it was “reassuring” that one of Mr Johnson's first points to Mr Tusk was he did not
want a no-deal Brexit.

The two men agreed to meet again on the margins of the UN general assembly in New York in September, he
added.

EU27 officials were keen to sidestep what they see as a possible attempt by the UK to blame them in the event
of chaos after a no-deal Brexit.

They stressed that they are ready to take seriously any credible UK suggestions for changes to the political
declaration on future relations between the two sides, but not the withdrawal agreement.

Mr Johnson appeared keen to temper expectations about a breakthrough on a revised Brexit deal, while also
emphasising that the EU was engaging with him.

He told Sky News there was still an opportunity to strike a deal, noting a “change of mood” among EU leaders.

Two Sunday newspapers reported that Downing Street was eyeing a general election in mid-October, based on
the premise that, if the Conservatives won, it would give Mr Johnson a mandate to secure a revised deal with
the EU.

But Number 10 insiders said the public continues to strongly oppose an election and the government will not
be seeking one. “The PM is not planning on that,” said a UK official. The focus instead would be on delivering
on the outcome of the 2016 referendum.

Downing Street sidestepped a newspaper report that Mr Johnson is considering suspending parliament in
September, potentially for several weeks, in order to stop MPs from thwarting a no-deal on October 31.

“The prime minister is clear that he is not going to stop MPs debating Brexit in parliament,” said a senior
government official.

European Union says Britain must pay Brexit divorce bill even if no deal
The stern rebuff from Brussels came a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again said that in the
event of a "no-deal" Brexit on October 31, Britain would be free from financial obligations to the bloc.
BRUSSELS: Britain must pay its Brexit divorce bill even if it crashes out of the bloc without a deal, the EU said
Monday, warning that future ties would be threatened if London failed to honour its commitments.

The stern rebuff from Brussels came a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again said that in the
event of a "no-deal" Brexit on October 31, Britain would be free from financial obligations to the bloc.
With the clock ticking and fears of no deal growing, Johnson and EU Council President Donald Tusk clashed at
the G7 in France on Saturday, with the British leader insisting the current divorce deal must be changed.

Asked if the EU would take Britain to court to recover the money, a spokeswoman for the European
Commission instead stressed that a future trade deal between Britain and the remaining 27 states could be
under threat unless London paid up.

"As we have said many times before, all commitments that were taken by the 28 member states should be
honoured, and this is also and especially true in a no deal scenario, where the United Kingdom would be
expected to honour all commitments made during EU membership," commission spokeswoman Mina
Andreeva told reporters.

"Rather than going into judicial action threat, I think it is important to make clear that settling accounts is
essential to starting off a new relationship on the right foot based on mutual trust."

Jean-Claude Piris, who served as director of the EU Council's legal services for more than two decades,
tweeted: "If the U.K. refuses to pay its debts to the EU, then the EU will not accept to negotiate a trade
agreement with the U.K." Johnson has repeatedly said that if Britain leaves without a deal it will not have to
pay the 39 billion pound (43 billion euro, USD 48 billion) divorce bill agreed by his predecessor Theresa May.

He repeated the claim again on Sunday, telling Britain's ITV broadcaster that the money would be "no longer,
strictly speaking, owed" and his government would be left with "very substantial sums" to spend.

Downing Street has reportedly refused to say how much the UK would be prepared to pay, though a report in
the Times newspaper on Monday quoted a figure of seven billion pounds.

The tough line from Brussels echoes comments by a French official last week who warned London against
thinking "there's not a deal, so I won't pay", saying "there's no magic wand that makes this bill disappear."

Johnson is adamant the withdrawal agreement struck by May -- rejected by his lawmakers three times -- is dead
in the water and changes must be made, particularly on the arrangements for the border between EU member
Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland