MAY’S OUTRAGE AT EU’S DIRTY TRICKS
I’ll stand up for Britain, says PM
THERESA May criticised EU officials last night over leaked Brexit talk details.
The Prime Minister said the “Brussels gossip” showed she needed to be tough in negotiations
over the UK’s departure from the European Union.
The extraordinary diplomatic row erupted after a detailed account of the talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker over dinner at Downing Street last Wednesday.
It emerged in a respected German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
According to the report, the talks broke up after Mrs May flatly refused to accept EU demands for a swingeing exit fee from British taxpayers of up to £50billion.
Mr Juncker was said to have hit back by insisting that the EU was not “a golf club” of which the UK could simply walk out.
Insiders said Mr Juncker left the meeting casting doubt about the chances of the EU agreeing a trade deal with the UK, telling her: “I leave Downing Street 10 times as sceptical as I was before.”
Mrs May was understood to be furious at the one-sided nature of the leak, which is thought to have been briefed by sources at the commission. Downing Street took the highly unusual step of releasing a statement questioning the account.
A spokesman said: “We do not recognise this account. As the Prime Minister and Jean-Claude Juncker made clear, this was a constructive meeting ahead of the negotiations formally getting under way.”
And on the General Election campaign trail in Lancashire last night, Mrs May signalled her displeasure at the leak. “I have to say from what I have seen of this account, I think it is Brussels gossip,” she said.
She pointed out than an official statement from the commission had praised the “constructive” atmosphere of the meeting.
Mrs May added: “But this also shows that actually these negotiations are at times going to be tough. And in order to get the best deal for Britain, we need to ensure we’ve got that strong and stable leadership into those negotiations.
“As I say, every vote for me and my team will strengthen my hand in those negotiations.
“And when it comes to June 8, people will have a clear choice. With 27 European countries on one side of the table, who do they want to see standing up for Britain on the other side – me or Jeremy Corbyn?” Senior Tory sources accused the European Commission of “spin” in the way the account was briefed.
And diplomats fear the readiness of the commission to leak and manipulate the proceedings of private talks does not bode well for the coming wrangle over Brexit.
According to the newspaper, the Downing Street dinner had gone “very badly” and broke up after just 90 minutes.
Mrs May and EU Exit Secretary David Davis had faced Mr Juncker and chief Brussels negotiator Michel Barnier over the meal.
At one point, the Prime Minister was reported to have told the EU pair: “Let us make Brexit a success.” Mr Juncker was said to have replied curtly: “This cannot be a success.”
Mrs May clashed with the European Commission chief over demands for Britain to pay an EU divorce bill of up to £50billion.
She insisted that Britain was not legally obliged to pay a penny because EU treaties contained no rules about an exit fee.
The German newspaper said that when Mr Davis insisted that Britain could not be forced to pay cash to Brussels once the country had left the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, Mr Juncker responded that the UK would not get a trade deal as a result. After the meal, Mr Juncker was said to have telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel to complain that Mrs May was “living in another galaxy” and was “totally deluding herself”.
Senior Tory Steve Baker, chairman of the Eurosceptic European Reform Group of MPs, said last night: “The Commission issued an on-the-record statement describing the meeting as ‘constructive’ so we do not recognise this anonymous briefing. We have always expected tough talk and robust positions before the negotiations.”
Ukip MEP Gerard Batten last night said Britons would not be “bullied” by Brussels.
He said: “The outcome of this ill-tempered spat is to make ‘no deal’ more likely.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn yesterday attacked Mrs May’s handling of Brexit negotiations. He said: “She seems to be sending rather mixed messages. To start negotiations by threatening to walk away with no deal and set up a low-tax economy on the shores of Europe is not a very sensible way of approaching people with whom half of our trade is done at the present time.”
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: “It’s clear this Government has no clue and is taking the country towards a disastrous hard Brexit.”
OF COURSE Jean-Claude Juncker and his acolytes have sought to portray his meeting with Theresa May last week as a disaster. This is nothing more than a grubby tactic that the chief Eurocrat is deploying in a bid to destabilise Brexit and unsettle the Prime Minister.
Faced with losing the EU’s second highest net contributor he will resort to any means possible to prevent Mrs May implementing the referendum result. In his battle to prevent Brexit, Juncker is planning to fight dirty.
Disappointingly he finds no shortage of willing collaborators in this country.
Senior figures from the Lib Dems, Labour and the SNP were quick to seize on the leaked details of the encounter – which have been disputed by Downing Street – as evidence that Brexit is doomed and the Prime Minister’s negotiations will fail.
This is an appalling way for supposedly sensible politicians to behave. Instead of colluding with a foreign bureaucrat to thwart the will of the people they ought to be supporting a Prime Minister who has an enormous democratic mandate to take Britain out of the EU.
The British people will not stand for being bullied by Brussels. Fortunately in Mrs May we have a leader who has more than enough backbone to stand up to Juncker.