Boris Johnson doubles down on pledge to get EU trade deal by end of next year if Tories get majority

Jacob Jarvis5 December 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Boris Johnson has insisted he could get a trade deal with the EU by end of next year despite mounting criticisms his Brexit deal would lead to years of talks.

The prime minister yesterday claimed people will stop talking about Brexit after January , should he gain a majority to push through his deal after the December 12 election.

However, his opponents have knocked down his vow to "get Brexit done", stating his deal will merely be the start of lengthy negotiations with the bloc.

He doubled down on his comments today when asked on This Morning if he could "promise" to "get us out cleanly".

He added that a new "free trade partnership" could be secured with the bloc by "the end of next year", as he denied that negotiations could take years.

Prior to this, he said trust had been lost in politics due to the failure on deliver Brexit.

General Election 2019 - In pictures

1/83

"I think there is a big trust issue with the whole of politics at the moment," he said.

"I think that is basically because after three-and-a-half years we haven't got done what we told the people we would do in 2016.

"We asked them to vote in the EU referendum, they did deliver a result and for the last two to three-and-a-half years we have been wrangling.

"I got to the stage as Prime Minister where it was obvious we couldn't get this thing through Parliament."

​The PM was also quizzed on comments he had made in previous articles he wrote during his time as a journalist, including one where he described Muslim women as looking like "letter boxes" and another where he made derogatory comments about single mothers.

He insisted people should read the entire articles but apologised for having caused offence.

Further pressed, he said: "I don't think this is the time to talk about articles that were written a really long time ago."

Mr Johnson also defended the proposal of taxing would-be NHS workers coming from the European Union after Brexit.

Doctor Sara, a This Morning viewer, said a "nurse tax", paying for visa fees, immigration and health surcharges, could cost families up to £10,000 in their first five years in the UK.

Mr Johnson said: "I don't quite know what Sara means but it is only fair that people who come to this country make use of our services, from wherever they come from, should make a contribution.

"I think that's reasonable."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in