Brussels ‘must help UK’

BRUSSELS could breach its own laws if it fails to help Britain with Brexit, Whitehall sources said last night.

Pointing to the Lisbon Treaty which requires the EU to pursue a policy of ‘ prosperity and good neighbourliness’ with bordering states, one insider told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The way they are behaving is making things difficult. We left under the Lisbon Treaty, which says they have obligations to help us.’.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis told the paper: ‘The Lisbon Treaty requires them to come up with a workable arrangement and that’s certainly not a description of their behaviour at the moment.’

Meanwhile International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said there is a 60 per cent chance Britain will leave the EU without a deal.

He claimed Brussels is more worried about this option than the UK.

And he argued Britain’s ‘negotiating hand is getting stronger every day’.

WHAT a relief it is, once in a blue moon, to hear from a member of the Remain dominated Cabinet who truly believes in Brexit. Such a minister is the International Trade Secretary, who warned the EU yesterday that our departure without a deal has become more likely than not.

Laying the responsibility squarely where it belongs, Dr Liam Fox blamed the intransigence of Brussels negotiators who put their ‘theological obsession’ with EU rules – such as the free movement of people – above the economic needs of the 500million they purport to represent.

Indeed, farmers and manufacturers on the continent stand to lose more than Britain from any tariff barriers after Brexit, since they export substantially more to us than we do to them. Meanwhile, our sales to the rest of the world are growing fast.

The point is dramatically underlined by today’s trade figures, which show British exports at a record £616billion last year, with 55 per cent – and counting – going to countries outside the EU.

Indeed, magnificent opportunities are waiting to be seized in this wider world, where 90 per cent of global growth is predicted over the next 10-15 years.

As a believer in free trade, this paper has never advocated a no-deal Brexit. But nor do we believe it holds the terrors raised by Remoaner scaremongers. Dr Fox is surely right to insist: ‘It’s essential that no deal looks credible to the EU.’

As for whether his message will get through to the likes of the French president – who seems to believe that free movement is more important than the livelihoods of his people (he should ask them what they think!) – only time will tell.

But let’s hear less melodramatic talk of ‘crashing out’ of the EU. If we leave without a deal, our trade with the 27 will be conducted under the same World Trade Organisation terms that now govern our commerce with the rest of the world.

As the trade figures show, we’re doing nicely there – and when we’re free of the EU, we’ll have the chance to do better still.