From the BBC:
Britain would be unable to negotiate its exit from the EU within the two years allowed by European Union rules, the former Cabinet Secretary Lord O'Donnell has said.
The prospect of demanding extra time from other EU nations to complete a leave deal was a "bit scary", he said. Asked how long a negotiation would take, he cited a Cabinet Office paper which said it could be up to a decade...
If the UK failed to get a deal within two years, the country would revert to World Trade Organization rules, which would include significant tariffs, he added.
Richard North is the expert on Flexcit, but why would we need to renegotiate anything on the day the UK ceases to be a Member State?
We could just agree that for the time being everything continues as at present. This is the default assumption for example when Czechoslovakia split into two, the UK swiftly concluded a Double Tax Treaty with the two new countries on exactly the same terms as the old treaty with Czechoslovakia.
The present set of agreement suits all parties reasonably well at the moment, so why would it not suit all parties reasonably well the very next day or the day after that? We'll have to haggle a figure for UK contributions (ransom payments) to the EU and that is the end of that.
By analogy - the rules of the game of football or cricket are the same the world over, that does not mean that each team has to be an official member of some over-arching football or cricket organisation. The rules of the game apply on the pitch between the two opposing teams, end of, it could be a non-affiliated team from Afghanistan playing a friendly against a scratch team from an Australian university team, the rules are the same as when two English schools are playing each other or a Test Match between South Africa and India.
Over time, the UK might do some things a bit differently to remaining Member States, so what? We can make that up as we go along.
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