Fox fires Brussels a warning over PM’s stance

BRUSSELS would be foolish to think Theresa May is bluffing about being prepared to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal, Liam Fox has insisted.

“The Prime Minister has always said that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and that no deal would be better than a bad deal,” the International Trade Secretary told the BBC.

“And I think it’s essential, as we enter the next phase of the negotiations, that the European Union understands that and believes it.

And he warned that if Britain were to leave, the economic impact on several European countries “would be severe... and that cannot be what the EU 27 want to see”.

The International Trade Secretary is one of the strongest voices in Cabinet backing a decisive Brexit and his comments could be seen as a bid to stiffen Mrs May’s resolve.

Achieved

But Dr Fox insisted: “Our negotiating partners would not be wise if they believed the Prime Minister was bluffing.”

He went on to claim that a lot had been achieved, by way of Brexit policy since the 2016 referendum.

And he defended the delay in deciding Britain’s preferred customs arrangement with the EU, on the grounds that it was essential that it be based on “evidence, not our personal suppositions”.

But he said he was opposed to staying in the EU single market for goods, because that would mean continued free movement of people into the UK and oversight of British justice by the European Court.

Dr Fox forecast that as exit day approaches on March 29 next year, EU countries would start pressing Brussels to do a deal in each of their economic interests.

Britain must seize its chance to escape Brussels rules that stop it striking new trade deals around the world, New Zealand’s former High Commissioner to the UK said yesterday.

Sir Alexander Lockwood Smith said the UK must properly leave the EU customs union and single market, saying: “You can’t be in a halfway house.

“None of this ‘customs partnership’ business – the rest of the world won’t take you seriously.

“The UK is a big player and you can take your place on the world stage,” he told Sky News.