Lawson: We must be ready to walk away from Brussels talks
THERESA May should walk away from Brexit talks tomorrow if EU leaders refuse to discuss trade with Britain, leading Leave campaigners say today.
Brexiteers including former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson urged Mrs May to abandon the negotiations if there is no progress towards a deal.
In a letter released today they say the EU’s deliberate policy of delaying trade talks is causing ‘a highly damaging level of uncertainty’ for British business.
As such, the Prime Minister must issue an ultimatum at this week’s meeting of the European Council, which also begins today.
If talks do not move on to trade, Mrs May should announce that Britain will move to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms after March 30, 2019, and begin intense preparations for the ‘no deal’ Brexit.
The letter, organised by the Leave Means Leave pressure group, is signed by senior figures from politics, business, law and the military.
As well as Lord Lawson, who chaired the official Leave campaign, signatories include former Tory cabinet ministers Peter Lilley, John Redwood and Owen Paterson, Labour MPs Kate Hoey and Graham Stringer, economist Professor Patrick Minford, and business figures including JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin.
It came as former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith called on Mrs May to make preparations for leaving without a deal.
He urged her to order Government departments to ‘make all arrangements’ for moving to WTO terms.
In an article for the Brexit Central news website, Mr Duncan Smith said the EU was dragging its feet to try and extract as much money as it can out of the UK.
And in a clear swipe at Chancellor Philip Hammond, he said Britain’s planning for a ‘no deal’ scenario must include spending money.
The letter to Mrs May, published as she travels to Brussels today, says: ‘Following your warm and generous speech in Florence, it has become increasingly
‘Damaging level of uncertainty’
clear that the European Commission is deliberately deferring discussions on the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU27 post-Brexit.
‘ This is causing a highly damaging level of uncertainty for businesses which need time to make preparations for March 2019.
‘The EU is taking this approach because they do not believe that the UK would be prepared to go to WTO rules for our trading relationship with them.
‘If at the European Council this week, the EU continues to refuse to discuss the future framework for a trade relationship, we should formally declare that we are assuming that we will be subject to WTO rules from March 30, 2019.’
Such an announcement would provide business with ‘absolute certainty about the future’ – and if the EU then wanted to return to the negotiating table, that would be a ‘bonus’.
The signatories say that ministers would be better focusing their efforts on ‘minimising disruptions’ from Brexit and seizing the great economic opportunities of Brexit, including negotiating free trade agreements around the world.
The letter adds ‘The UK Government has been more than patient and accommodating in these negotiations.
‘The country, businesses and the public alike, would now welcome the clarity and certainty that such decisive action by the Government would bring.’