No-deal is closest to what people voted for, says Boris
BORIS Johnson was rebuked by a senior Downing Street official yesterday after claiming a no-deal Brexit was “closest to what people voted for” in the EU referendum.
In a newspaper article, the former foreign secretary said the 2016 national poll in favour of quitting the bloc represented a call for a decisive break with Brussels.
“This option is closest to what people actually voted for,” he said, pointing towards the UK quitting the EU without a withdrawal agreement and establishing a trading relationship based on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
“When 17.4million chose to leave the EU, they didn’t vote to stay locked in the customs union or the single market,” he said. “They didn’t vote for anything like Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement. They voted to come out. It is no deal, or WTO terms, that actually corresponds to their idea of coming out.”
Mrs May’s spokesman suggested Mr Johnson’s support for a no-deal Brexit conflicted with his demand during the referendum campaign for a “relationship based on trade and cooperation” with the EU.
“I think what the British people voted for in the referendum was to take back control of their money, laws and borders and that is what the Prime Minister’s deal delivers.
“During the referendum campaign itself Boris Johnson said ‘we want a relationship based on trade and cooperation in relation to Europe’,” the spokesman said.
In his article, he condemned Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement as “lamentable” and attacked warnings from ministers and Remain campaigners about possible impact of a no-deal Brexit on the UK. “We now have a cumulative forecast that is downright apocalyptic,” he said.