You must be ready to walk away, PM told

BRExITEER MPs have told Theresa May to prepare for ‘no deal’ with the EU after Jean-Claude Juncker claimed the UK needs ‘miracles’ for Europe to agree to start trade negotiations.

They told the Prime Minister she must be ready to tell the European Commission chief Britain will go it alone unless talks on a future deal begin by the end of the year.

Downing Street is quietly confident discussions on trade and a transition period will be rubber-stamped by EU leaders in October – and German leader Angela Merkel claimed Mrs May’s speech in Italy ‘helped revive the negotiation process’.

But at an EU leaders’ summit in Estonia yesterday, Mr Juncker said: ‘At the end of this week I am saying there will be no sufficient progress from now until October unless miracles would happen.’ EU bosses will decide in October whether UK guarantees on the ‘divorce bill’, Northern Ireland and citizens’ rights constitute ‘sufficient progress’ for talks on future trade to begin.

But last night prominent Brexiteers piled pressure on Mrs May, telling her to prepare for a ‘no deal’ if the EU does not open trade talks by December. The eight signatories, including former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson and ex-Brexit minister David Jones, raised fears over whether the UK would accept EU rules in a transition.

The letter calls for Mrs May to revert to World Trade Organisation rules if the EU will not negotiate a trade deal quickly. The move reflects concern among Tory hardliners over the approach laid out in her speech – including an ‘ implementation period’, effectively keeping the UK in the EU for two years after 2019, and insisting Britain would pay the Brexit bill.

EU diplomats said they expect Mrs May to make more concessions after the Tory Party conference, believing her hands are currently tied by fears of a Brexiteer revolt. They added: ‘ May’s Florence speech was actually full of concessions … that’s why we have this change in mood.’

At the summit, the PM said she wanted her offer on issues such as citizens’ rights to be ‘reciprocated in [EU] proposals’.

A Downing Street source said: ‘ The response from the 27 leaders has been constructive … Juncker and [European Parliament Brexit chief Guy] Verhofstadt always take the most robust position.’

A source close to Mr Juncker denied his remarks were deliberately pessimistic.