Time to ditch Brussels and go for WTO

IT was a sorry sight to see our own prime minister humiliated by the other 27 members of the Euro club last week in Salzburg.

The orchestrated condemnation of her Chequers proposals by the other leaders was a devastating rebuff.

Only the Hungarian PM seemed to show any sympathy, and he is currently regarded as somewhat of a pariah by the rest.

I cannot understand why Mrs May went there in the first place to try and sell a plan that she must know will not get through her own Parliament in its present form.

Fresh thinking by experienced strategists is now required to save both Mrs May and this nation from further humiliation.

Michel Barnier has not budged from his position from day one. He dares not allow his red lines to be crossed, for the great European fear is that other members may wish to follow the UK.

The British Government has made concession after concession which resulted in last week’s humiliation. David Cameron came up against the same brick wall – and that cost him his political career.

In the interests of Great Britain and business in general our Government must indicate that there will be no further negotiations, and that we will be adopting WTO rules with no question of any divorce payments.

This, if nothing else, will give certainty to business, for we will know how to plan for the future accordingly. Such a move might just bring about a change of heart in Brussels, but I somehow doubt it.

Time for a different approach and one that hopefully Mrs May’s Cabinet will back, for whatever policy is adopted (and Chequers is now dead) it is essential that she gets total support.

Under no circumstances must she lay herself open to such humiliation again.

If WTO is the chosen way forward, then some members of the Brussels club may well rue the day when they decided to gang up on a British Prime Minister. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris