Boris Johnson has repeatedly rejected any suggestion he would be open to requesting an extension to the Brexit transition period because of the coronavirus pandemic. But with the Prime Minister having adopted a harder line against the outbreak upon his return to Downing Street, and the lockdown likely to be extended into June, billionaire Gopichand Hinduja suggested Mr Johnson could ask for an extension. Speaking to CNBC, Mr Hinduja said: “In my view, now that the Prime Minister is back in 10 Downing Street, there will be an extension for Brexit.

“He has to look at the economic state of the country.

“I’m a strong believer that globalisation is good for the world and even if they come to any understanding on Brexit, I don’t think it’s going to happen in the deadline that was set.

“My instinct is that it’s going to be extended.”

The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) earlier this month warned the British economy could shrink by 35 percent this spring because of the hundreds of businesses being forced to shut down amidst the lockdown. 

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Mr Hinduja, who is one of the richest men in the UK alongside his brother Srichand, suggested a further hit to the economy would cause the tentative recovery caused by the end of phase one of the Brexit talks to halt.

He continued: “The UK economy has already been down in the past two and a half years because of the uncertainty of Brexit.

“When Mr Johnson won his majority, the economy had started to stabilise.

“Unfortunately, this COVID-19 has created a lot of chaos, uncertainty and one really doesn’t know how it is going to be.”

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But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who deputised for Mr Johnson while the Prime Minister recovered from COVID-19, once again reiterated the UK Government will neither agree nor request and extension of the transition period.

Responding to calls from the SNP to postpone the end of the negotiations past December 31, Mr Raab told the Commons: “Let’s be clear. Our position is unchanged, the transition period ends on December 31.

“That’s enshrined in law, there’s no intention of changing that.

“What we should do now, given the uncertainty, the problems and the challenges coronavirus has highlighted for us but also for our European friends, as we work extremely close with our German friends and all our European partners is remove any additional uncertainty, doing a deal by the end of the year and allowing both the UK and the European Union to bounce back as we come through the coronavirus.”

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EU Chief negotiator Michel Barnier told MEPs “vast differences” remain between Brussels and London after a week of discussions.

Mr Barnier’s assessment prompted warnings to the European Commission to resume contingency planning for Britain leaving the transition period without an agreement.

Senior members of the European Parliament’s UK Coordination Group said they believed the Prime Minister and his senior adviser Dominic Cummings are seeking a no-deal exit, sources familiar with the meeting told Express.co.uk.

An MEP in attendance of the confidential meeting is reported to have said to Mr Barnier: “It has been a while since I came to the conclusion that no deal is what the Prime Minister and Cummings actually want.

“If you read their team’s attitude in the negotiations, it seems to fit that assumption quite well.”

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