Theresa: I got us into this mess and I’ll get us out of it
MINISTERS have drawn up detailed plans for pulling Britain out of the EU without a Brussels deal, David Davis declared yesterday.
In a warning shot ahead of the formal beginning of negotiations, the Brexit Secretary insisted the Government was ready for Theresa May to walk out of talks if EU leaders attempt to unfairly penalise the UK.
“We’re not going to accept the punishment option,” the Cabinet minister said.
He also confirmed that the start of the diplomatic exit wrangle has been pushed back to at least the middle of next week because of a delay to the Queen’s Speech.
His remarks were being seen last night as a sign that hardened Brexiteers in the Cabinet are digging in for a battle with some Tory ministers who hope to soften the EU departure process.
One leading light of the Leave camp, the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joined other senior ministers at a meeting of key members of the Cabinet yesterday to discuss political strategy following the election setback.
He later attended the first gathering of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs since the election in the Commons to show support for Prime Minister Theresa May.
Former Remain supporters at Westminster want Mrs May to drop her claim that “no deal is better than a bad deal” and come to an accord with the EU that retains many of the aspects of EU membership. But Mr Davis remained firm in saying the Government must keep the option of a walk out.
“We have worked up that alternative in some detail, we’re still working on it,” he told BBC Radio 4, warning that some EU leaders wanted to punish Britain with, for instance, measures to hurt the City of London.
“It’s important that we have the option if it comes down to it – I don’t think it will – of being able to walk away,” he said.
In signalling that his opening Brexit talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier are unlikely to begin as scheduled next Monday, Mr Davis said the timetable is being amended because Mrs May’s discussions with the Democratic Unionist Party for an arrangement to support her minority government had delayed the State Opening of Parliament, when the Monarch announces the coming legislative plans.
“My permanent secretary is actually in Brussels today talking to them about the details,” he said.
“It may not be on the Monday because we also have got the Queen’s Speech that week and I will have to speak in that, and so on.”
Mr Davis added: “In the first round we are going to have pretty long meetings at roughly one week a month – which is much, much faster than any previous trade deal they have done.
“The first bit of it – Brussels want to do the so-called divorce proceedings first – includes European citizens in the UK.
“It includes money, they want to talk about that – we think it should come later – and Northern Ireland.
“The European citizens in the UK, we want to get on with as fast as possible.”
Mr Davis admitted parts of the Tory manifesto will have to be “ditched” after the party failed to win a Commons majority in last week’s election.
And he condemned speculation among Tory MPs about Mrs May’s future after the election collapse, saying: “It’s a complete waste of people’s time, it is just unbelievably self-indulgent.”
Mrs May, he said, would soon show her penchant for running the country. “She’s formidably good at that,” he said. “That’s what you are going to see, you are going to see in the next few weeks her taking back command, her taking back the reins… delivering for the country.”
He rubbished suggestions that he could be a candidate in a future Tory leadership race.
Mrs May’s official spokesman said the Prime Minister remained committed to securing “the best possible deal for the whole of the UK”.