ASSESSMENTS

What the U.K. Vote Means for Brexit and Business

Dec 6, 2019 | 16:14 GMT

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns outside Finsbury Park station in London on Dec. 2, 2019.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns outside Finsbury Park station in London on Dec. 2. Britons will vote to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons on Dec. 12 in an election that might finally bring an end to the United Kingdom's Brexit saga.

(DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)

Highlights

A new, Conservative-led government would increase the likelihood of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union with a deal by late January 2020.
A Labour-led government, however, would increase the probability of a new Brexit referendum in which voters could choose to remain in the European Union.
But even if there is an orderly Brexit in 2020, negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom over a free trade agreement will face complications over issues such as the country's alignment with EU norms and the future of the British financial services sector.

The United Kingdom is just days away from a snap general election on Dec. 12, with the country's future outside -- or even, perhaps, inside -- the European Union hanging in the balance. Depending on who wins, Brexit could take very different directions, as the country's main political parties have radically different proposals for both the terms of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union and the future trade ties between the country and the bloc. A victory by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party would increase the chances of an orderly Brexit in late January 2020. On the contrary, a government led by the Labour Party would increase the likelihood of a new referendum in which voters could choose to cancel Brexit altogether. But even if there is an orderly Brexit in 2020, negotiations over a free trade agreement between the bloc and London will be complex as...

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