Davis hits out at EU’s claim that Brexit will cause cancer
DAVID Davis will take aim at Brussels today over scaremongering claims that Brexit could leave British workers at a greater risk of cancer.
The Brexit Secretary will say that leaving the EU will not plunge the UK into a ‘Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction’, and that ministers will use the opportunity to improve standards.
In a speech in Vienna, Mr Davis will say Britain may choose to move away from EU regulations, but that the country’s ‘blueprint for life outside of Europe is a race to the top in global standards, not a regression from the high standards we have now’.
Addressing an audience of Austrian business leaders, he will argue a common commitment to high regulatory standards should ensure trade with the EU remains as ‘frictionless as possible’ after Brexit. Mr Davis will criticise the European Commission, which has claimed that Brexit could lead to workers losing protections.
A presentation prepared by Michel Barnier’s Brexit taskforce last month said the UK could ditch rules around redundancies ‘in order to reduce cost and delays for collective dismissals’. It also said ministers could ‘reduce levels of occupational safety and health’, which could lead to ‘higher exposure to chemicals and carcinogens resulting in lower production cost’.
But Mr Davis will insist the Government will continue its track record of high standards outside the EU and had no intention of engaging in a new ‘race to the bottom’.
‘ I know that for one reason or another there are some people who have sought to question that these really are our intentions,’ he will say.
‘They fear that Brexit could lead to an Anglo-Saxon race to the bottom, with Britain plunged into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction. These fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing – not history, not intention, nor interest.’
Mr Davis will point to Theresa May’s commitment to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights, Chancellor Philip Hammond’s support for a stable European banking system and Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s ‘crusading zeal’ on animal welfare as examples of UK determination to lead a ‘race to the top’. He will say it is the interests of both sides to be able to continue to trust each other’s regulations and the institutions that enforce them after Brexit.
‘Such mutual recognition will naturally require close, evenhanded co-operation between these authorities and a common set of principles to guide them,’ he said.
‘And the certainty that Britain’s plan, its blueprint for life outside of Europe, is a race to the top in global standards, not a regression from the high standards we have now, can provide the basis of the trust that means that Britain’s regulators and institutions can continue to be recognised.’
Mr Davis will say that when one side or the other wishes to change its regulations, it will be essential to ensure it does not lead to the creation of ‘unnecessary barriers’ to trade. ‘Take a car produced here in Austria to be exported to the UK. Currently, that vehicle only has to undergo one series of approvals, in one country, to show that it meets the required regulatory standards and those approvals are accepted across the European Union. That’s exactly the sort of arrangement we want to see maintained even after we leave the EU.’
Meanwhile, Australia last night raised the prospect of a lucrative trade deal with the UK after Brexit. Julie Bishop, the country’s foreign minister, said: ‘When the circumstances are right, when the timing is right, Australia would be keen to pursue a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. High quality, comprehensive, gold standard.’
Britain could refuse to pay the £40billion Brexit divorce bill if the EU fails to agree on a trade deal, it was claimed last night. Ministers have reportedly drawn up a secret contingency plan to withhold the money if Brussels goes back on its word.
European political website Politico said British officials had briefed that they hoped to use it to raise leverage and force the EU to give the UK the trade deal it wants.
‘Race to the top in global standards’