EU bosses expect Britain to seek an extension of its post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of the year, as negotiations on trade have ground to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. Europe has gone into a deep lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease, with more than 330,000 infections reported on the continent and nearly 21,000 deaths.

And here in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his health minister have both tested positive for the killer virus, while the Tory leader’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings – one of the masterminds behind Britain’s departure from the EU – is now self-isolating with symptoms.

So, with a global pandemic on our hands, Express.co.uk is asking should Britain delay the post-Brexit transition period due to coronavirus?

Last night, the EU’s largest political bloc ordered Mr Johnson to trigger a delay or face a “double whammy” of consequences.

MEPs from the centre-right European People’s Party warned the UK it would be face major economic blows due to the coronavirus and leaving the bloc’s single market.

David McAllister, the EU Parliament’s UK trade co-ordinator, said Brussels is ready to extend the transition period beyond the end of the year and the “ball is now clearly in the British court”.

He said: “The coronavirus pandemic complicates the already very ambitious schedule.

“The EU has always been open to extending the transition period. The ball is now clearly in the British court.

“The United Kingdom would have to submit an official request. So far, the UK government has constantly rejected such an option. Under the current circumstances, London should carefully re-examine a prolongation.”

Brexit talks have been thrown into doubt after Mr Johnson confirmed he had tested positive for the killer disease on Friday.

This was after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was struck down by COVID-19 and Britain’s top Europe chief David Frost went in to self-isolation after displaying mild symptoms.

But Downing Street has remained defiant, denying there will be a U-turn in Brexit policy.

Mr Johnson has ruled out delaying the date when Brexit would finally take effect following Britain’s 2016 vote to leave, and said London was also ready to withdraw from its current cooperation accords at end-year without a new deal.

On Monday, the prime minister’s spokesman repeated on the deadline for the transition ended on December 31 and “this is enshrined in law”.

He said: “We have shared legal texts and they are the subject of informal discussions between ourselves and the EU commission.

I would expect those sorts of conversations to be carrying on this week.

“The structure of the negotiations has changed to reflect the current situation with regard to coronavirus, so there are more continuous discussions taking place rather than the set rounds which were originally envisaged.”

The remarks come after a poll found a majority (66 percent) of Britons want Mr Johnson to delay the Brexit-transition period to focus on the coronavirus pandemic.

So far there have been 22,141confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Britain and 1,408 deaths.

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