He claims EU is 3-course meal we’re swapping for some crisps
BORIS Johnson and Liam Fox rounded on Establishment Remainers yesterday after a former Whitehall mandarin claimed the benefits of Brexit would amount to no more than ‘a packet of crisps’.
The Foreign Secretary accused Sir Martin Donnelly of a ‘counsel of despair’ – and said some Establishment figures appeared to have forgotten that the British people voted to leave the EU.
International Trade Secretary Dr Fox, who was Sir Martin’s boss until last year, said his judgment appeared to have been skewed by his years working for the European Commission in Brussels.
In an extraordinary intervention yesterday, Sir Martin, former permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, suggested the Government should stay in both the single market and customs union, saying any divergence from Brussels rules would damage Britain’s economy.
He told the BBC: ‘You’re giving up a threecourse meal, which is the depth and intensity of our trade relationships across the European Union and partners now, for the promise of a packet of crisps in the future if we manage to do trade deals outside the European Union which aren’t going to com- pensate for what we’re giving up.’ Mr Johnson said he disagreed ‘ very strongly’ with Sir Martin. He described his gloomy assessment as a ‘counsel of despair’, adding: ‘Look at the opportunities for growth for this country. They are not in the EU, they are outside the EU.’
Dr Fox said: ‘It is unsurprising that those who spent a lifetime working with the EU would see moving away from the EU as threatening.’
He added that Sir Martin was wrong to suggest ministers were planning to cut off EU trade to pursue trade with third countries. ‘It is not a choice to do one or the other,’ he said. ‘The Brexit process is a little more complex than a packet of Walkers [crisps].’
The row followed 48 hours which have seen Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, the CBI and Tory Remainers step up efforts to keep Britain shackled to the EU after Brexit by staying in a customs union.
Sir John Major is expected to join the attacks today in a speech in which he is expected to urge pro-Remain MPs to ‘show leadership’ by defying the Government’s bid to make a clean break with Brussels.
Aides to the former prime minister were tight-lipped about the contents of his speech but claimed it would be an ‘important’ intervention.
On Monday, Mr Corbyn confirmed an extraordinary U-turn on Brexit, saying Labour did now want to stay in a customs union indefinitely, even though this would wreck the dream of Britain striking independent trade deals with fast-growing Mr Johnson said the Labour leader’s move amounted to a ‘cynical betrayal of those who voted for him on the assumption he would deliver Brexit’.
Labour’s move was backed by the CBI, but Mr Johnson said the leadership of the employers’ organisation had taken ‘a political view’. He added: ‘I think the leadership of the CBI is wrong. A great number of the businesses I talk to are extremely optimistic about the opportunities this country has.’
Mr Johnson said Labour’s shift appeared to be an attempt to court Tory rebels who favour staying in a customs union. Tory MP Sarah Wollaston suggested parliament could yet force the Government to pursue a customs union with the EU, telling the BBC’s Newsnight show: ‘The simple reality is there is not a parliamentary majority for a hard Brexit…’
Rebels claim at least 15 MPs are ready to vote with Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats on an amendment to the Trade Bill when it returns to the Commons in May.
Meanwhile, SNP leader Miss Sturgeon said it was ‘highly likely’ that the Scottish Parliament would refuse consent for the EU Withdrawal Bill – setting up a constitutional clash with Westminster.
‘It is a counsel of despair’