Fox: No-deal Brexit odds-on
Britain is odds-on to crash out of the European Union without a deal, Liam Fox, the UK international trade secretary, warns today.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Fox put the chances of a no deal departure at ‘‘60-40’’, squarely blaming the ‘‘intransigence’’ of the European Commission.
Fox accused Eurocrats of harbouring a ‘‘theological obsession’’ with EU rules rather than ‘‘economic wellbeing’’, which would lead to ‘‘only one outcome’’. His intervention comes amid growing fears about the potential collapse in talks. Downing Street refused to say what Theresa May achieved when the prime minister visited the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the south of France on Friday to discuss her Chequers blueprint for a future relationship with the EU.
Speaking as he completed a trade mission to Japan, Fox said that he had previously not thought the prospects of a no-deal Brexit were ‘‘more than 50-50’’ but the risk of no trade deal had increased.
‘‘I think the intransigence of the commission is pushing us towards no deal,’’ he said. ‘‘We have set out the basis in which a deal can happen but if the EU decides that the theological obsession of the unelected is to take priority over the economic wellbeing of the people of Europe then it’s a bureaucrats’ Brexit – not a people’s Brexit – [and] then there is only going to be one outcome.’’
Fox accused Brussels’ chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, of dismissing Britain’s proposals ‘‘because we have never done it before’’ and argued that ‘‘makes the chance of no deal greater’’.
He called on the EU to provide answers of its own. ‘‘If they don’t like the one [deal] we have put on the table then it’s down to them to show us one that they can suggest that would be acceptable to us,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s up to the EU 27 to determine whether they want the EU Commission’s ideological purity to be maintained at the expense of their real economies.’’
Fox made clear that confronting the EU with the risks of no deal was part of the government’s strategy. ‘‘I think it’s essential that no deal looks credible to the EU,’’ he said.
He spoke after Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, warned his French counterparts that no deal would mean ‘‘there will be jobs lost in Europe as well’’.
‘‘I think the intransigence of the commission is pushing us towards no deal.’’ Liam Fox, UK international trade secretary