98% SAY NO TO EU DEAL
Forget talks with Brussels and quit now, urges new poll
DEMANDS for Britain’s historic Brexit vote to be rubber-stamped with a swift EU exit grew last night in the wake of a new poll.
In a phone survey for the Daily Express, 98 per cent of people said the decision to leave should be enacted now instead of Britain becoming embroiled in lengthy talks with Brussels bureaucrats.
It came after Prime Minister Theresa May told Tory MEPs yesterday there could be “months of negotiations” before Article 50 is triggered to start freeing us from Brussels rule.
Former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood, who has led a cross-party group of MPs seeking to get Britain out of the EU within weeks, said of our poll: “Too many in government and the
professions seem to think the UK is a weak petitioner and has to be very careful in case we are expelled from the single market.
“The facts are very different. Getting our contributions back, deciding our own laws and having our own migration policy were the three biggest points of the Leave campaign.
“These are all non-negotiable. We should just get on and do them.”
The simple solution, also backed by Labour Leave, is to trigger Article 50 by repealing the 1972 European Communities Act and then informing the EU that the UK is no longer a member but intends to trade tariff-free.
If the EU decides to impose tariffs Britain would respond. But because the UK has a trade deficit with the EU of almost £24billion, a trade war would be more damaging to European countries – especially Germany which could lose its biggest car market.
Mr Redwood added: “If people read Article 50 they would find it expressly says we can withdraw using our own constitutional procedures. In our case it means an Act of Parliament. That can be done in a matter of weeks.”
“This poll is great news, well done to the Daily Express.”
New Brexit Secretary David Davis has suggested that Article 50 could be triggered early in 2017 and Britain could be out by the end of 2018.
A Downing Street spokeswoman insisted that the amount of time taken would be about getting Britain the best deal. She said: “We have been very clear – Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it.
“We are already making progress in preparations to leave the EU, and are committed to getting the best deal possible for the whole of the UK.”
But amid concerns over unnecessary delays, Mrs May told MEPs that it could “take months” before the process begins properly.
Syed Kamall, Tory leader in the European Parliament said: “The British government needs to discuss its red lines across all departments.
“At the same time in Brussels they haven’t decided what their red lines will be in any negotiations.”
A senior Tory MEP told the Daily Express the meeting was “positive and united” and Mrs May had “convinced us she really wants Brexit”.
He also said she had made it clear that “ending free movement is a red line” but leaving the single market was “a grey area”. The comments could play into the hands of eurocrats led by European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, who want to force Britain to keep free movement.
Mr Juncker denied he was taking a “hard line” on the UK.
“It’s not a hard line, it’s common sense,” he told French TV’s Telematin programme. “It reflects the philosophy of the European project itself.”
Meanwhile Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon provoked claims she is trying to “blackmail” the UK Government into ignoring the democratic will of the British people after threatening a second independence referendum if Brexit happens. And Mrs May met Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy Martin McGuinness in Belfast to provide reassurances that Brexit would not create a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.