UK’s Philip Hammond says Brexit transition must be done by 2022

EU nationals would continue to be able to work in Britain immediately after Britain left the EU, Hammond said.

British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday that the transition to Britain fully establishing its new relationship with the European Union must be complete by the time of the next scheduled parliamentary election in 2022.

Flags are arranged at the EU Commission headquarters ahead of a first full round of talks on Brexit, Britain's divorce terms from the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium July 17, 2017. (Reuters)

“People have talked about a year, two years, maybe three years,” he said in a BBC radio interview. “I think there’s a broad consensus that this process has to be completed by the scheduled time of the next general election which is in June 2022.”

Hammond said he wanted to avoid a cliff-edge where goods and people stopped being able to move across British borders when it leaves the EU in March 2019.

EU nationals would continue to be able to work in Britain immediately after Britain left the EU, and changes to rules affecting Britain’s relations with the EU could be phased in gradually over the transition period, Hammond added.