Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has warned that there can be no transition period without a full withdrawal agreement, contrary to what Boris Johnson has suggested.
“Hard Brexit is hard Brexit. I don’t see how you can sweeten it,” he told the BBC.
Mr Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, has argued for taking the “good bits” from the existing withdrawal agreement and finalising alternative arrangements to the backstop during a transition period.
He intends to delay the end of the transition — which is scheduled under Mrs May’s deal for December 31 2020 — until December 2021.
Mr Rutte called on the next prime minister to show some flexibility in the next phase of trying to implement Brexit.
He