Boris Johnson insists Brexit won’t be delayed The government has dismissed calls from senior MPs to postpone Brexit to give Britain more time to prepare for departure. […]

The government has dismissed calls from senior MPs to postpone Brexit to give Britain more time to prepare for departure.

“I think what most people in this country want, whether they voted Leave or to Remain, they want us to get on and deal with it” Boris Johnson The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

The cross-party Exiting the EU committee also suggested that the post-Brexit transition period could be extended.

But some pro-Brexit Tory members refused to endorse the conclusions, arguing that a delay would undermine the referendum result.

The row broke out ahead of this week’s EU leaders’ summit, when Theresa May will attempt to reach agreement over the transition period.

May ‘will get good deal’

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that she would get a good deal in Brussels.

“I think what most people in this country want, whether they voted Leave or to Remain, they want us to get on and deal with it,” he told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.

The Department for Exiting the EU also said it was confident that an agreement could be struck in Brussels.

The majority committee report argued that “little progress” has been made on key issues including the future status of the Irish border.

Read more David Davis ‘confident’ Brexit transition deal in sight amid concessions on both sides

And it cast doubt on whether all details of the post-Brexit relationship between Britain and the EU can be agreed by this autumn in time for the European and UK parliaments to ratify it before Brexit on 29 March 2019. The report argued that it could be necessary to extend the Article 50 period beyond March.

Time ‘running out’

Labour MP Hilary Benn, the committee’s chairman, said: “We are now at a critical stage in the negotiations, with just seven months left to reach agreement on a whole host of highly complex issues.

“While the committee welcomes the progress that has been made in some areas, the government faces a huge task when the phase two talks actually begin.

“The government must now come forward with credible, detailed proposals as to how it can operate a ‘frictionless border’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because at the moment, the committee is not persuaded that this can be done at the same time as the UK is leaving the single market and customs union.”

Mogg’s minority report

But five Tory MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and a DUP MP refused to sign off the final version and took the rare step of issuing a minority report.

It argued that a 21 month transition period, ending in December 2020, was “ample” time and warned that a prolonged transition would be “difficult for the UK and not respect the referendum result”.

Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Brexit-supporting Tory European Research Group, said: “The committee’s majority report is the prospectus for the vassal state. It is a future not worthy of us as a country, and I am sure Theresa May will rightly reject a report by the High Priests of Remain.”