EU WARNED: DON’T RISK A MESSY DIVORCE
JEREMY Hunt will today warn the EU against turning Brexit into a “messy divorce” that could leave Europe divided “for a generation”.
In a keynote speech, the Foreign Secretary will urge European Commission negotiators to end their stonewalling and approach Theresa May’s offer of a Brexit deal “with an open mind”.
Rejecting the UK’s offer of a new partnership based on friendship would be “a geo-strategic error for Europe at an extremely
vulnerable time in our history”, he is due to say.
He will also insist that Britain can “prosper” without a deal with Brussels.
Mr Hunt’s warning to the EU, in a high-profile speech in the US, comes as his Cabinet colleague Dominic Raab is due to go head-tohead with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in their first formal Brexit talks.
In a speech at the US Institute for Peace headquarters during his first visit to Washington in his new role, the Foreign Secretary is expected to say: “One of the biggest threats to European unity would be a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
“Britain would, of course, find a way to prosper and we have faced many greater challenges in our history. But the risk of a messy divorce, as opposed to the friendship we seek, would be a fissure in relations between European allies that would take a generation to heal – a geo-strategic error for Europe at an extremely vulnerable time in our history.
“So, as I have been saying to European governments, now is the time for the European Commission to engage with an open mind with the fair and constructive proposals made by the Prime Minister.”
Brussels sources have indicated that the EU will reject the Prime Minister’s latest offer of a postBrexit trade deal, which includes close customs links for trade in goods after the withdrawal from the bloc next March.
Last week, Mr Hunt was criticised by Tory Eurosceptics after suggesting a “no-deal” Brexit would be a “huge mistake”.
Today he is expected to emphasise that any overwhelming negative economic impact would be felt on continental Europe while the UK would “prosper”.
His intervention comes as ministers attempt to step up the pace of negotiations in the hope of hammering out a deal in time for an EU summit in Brussels in October.
Mr Raab is expected to deliver a major speech on the negotiations later this week and the Government is scheduled to begin releasing a series of more than 80 technical documents setting out preparations needed in case talks collapse without a deal.
A leaked document yesterday suggested the Government will unilaterally give 3.8 million EU citizens currently living in the UK the right to stay permanently in the event of a “no deal” outcome.
They will be able to continue accessing the NHS and the benefits system, regardless of whether British nationals in the EU are granted reciprocal rights, it says.
According to the leaked paper: “The Home Office plans to make an offer to existing EU residents that they can remain in the UK in a ‘no deal’ scenario, in effect unilaterally implementing the (immigration element of the) Citizens’ Rights agreement agreed with the EU in December 2017.
“The proposal is to make the offer irrespective of whether the EU reciprocates… Making an offer is not only important to provide certainty publicly, but will enable the UK Government to take the moral high ground.
“A number of other plans are also dependent on the Government’s position on this issue, relying heavily on the availability of existing labour in a ‘no deal’ scenario.”
The paper, which was said to have been given to ministers last month, describes the issue as “one of the most important aspects” of Government’s no-deal planning.
A Downing Street spokeswoman declined to comment on the paper but said: “One of the priorities for us right from the get-go has been securing the rights of EU citizens living here.”
Brexit-backing Tory MPs yesterday welcomed the move.
Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “EU migrants came here legally and the UK is not the sort of country that applies retrospective legislation.
“They should have broadly the same rights as British citizens.”
EU Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein, speaking ahead of Mr Raab’s visit to Brussels, told journalists that officials were working “at full speed, 24/7” to reach an exit agreement.
He said: “Our chief negotiator has been engaging constructively as he always has done with his British counterpart and it’s in that spirit that the meeting tomorrow will take place.”
‘One of the biggest threats to European unity would be a chaotic no-deal Brexit’ jeremy hunt
JEREMY HUNT, the Foreign Secretary, is turning out to be the hard man of Brexit, a formidable player in these protracted negotiations. He has told the European Commission that a no-deal Brexit would “be a fissure in relations between European allies that would take a generation to heal – a geostrategic error for Europe at an extremely vulnerable time in our history”. In other words he is telling Brussels to – finally – stop messing about and “engage with an open mind with the fair and constructive proposals made by the Prime Minister”.
We are approaching the last moves in this dance that has occupied the nation, the media and politicians to the exclusion of almost everything else for more than two years.
There is a new mood, both weary and impatient. But it is good to see the Foreign Secretary speaking up for Britain’s demands when we seem to have been cap in hand to Brussels for so long. And on the positive side Liam Fox has launched the Government Export Strategy to boost UK jobs and economic growth after we leave the EU. He says: “I believe the UK has the potential to be a 21st-century exporting superpower.” Fine words though one must remember that we are nearly one fifth of the way through the 21st century and already export many goods. How time flies.