No retreat, baby, no surrender

Memo to Barnier:

HERE we go again. Our socalled european ‘partners’ are already cranking up the rhetoric in advance of talks aimed at agreeing a new post-Brexit trade deal with the eU. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is warning that we are going to ‘rip each other apart’ during the negotiations.

That dismal bureaucrat Michel Barnier insists that Britain will have to obey all eU rules and submit to the jurisdiction of the european Court if we want to carry on doing business on the Continent after December 31.

effectively, they are seeking a ‘ no- compete’ deal, which would prevent us lowering taxes and setting our own standards on everything from workers’ rights to subsidising ailing industries.

They want to force us to carry on following the pernicious european Convention on Human Rights, which has proven to be a goldmine for opportunist Left-wing lawyers — like the now-disgraced Phil Shyster — and has provided a get-out-of-jail-free card for terrorists, murderers and illegal immigrants.

Brussels is also making noises about cutting off the City of London’s access to european financial markets with as little as a month’s notice. Oh, and they are demanding that foreign fishing boats continue to enjoy unlimited access to British waters.

If we were to agree to any of this extensive shopping list, it would make a mockery of the whole point of Brexit — taking back control. Fortunately, Boris appears to have no intention of complying with these outrageous conditions — a position amplified by our chief negotiator David Frost in a speech last night.

All we are seeking is a fair deal, based on friendly co- operation, not special treatment.

But as far as the eU apparat is concerned, friendly co-operation is not on the table. They aren’t even prepared to offer the same tarifffree trading terms they have agreed with countries such as Canada, South Korea and Japan.

Such sabre-rattling is, of course, only to be expected. But it’s all so tiresome and unnecessary.

The whole deal could be tied up in about ten minutes, with goodwill and a bit of give and take on both sides. But the problem is that the Brussels bureaucracy is still fighting the last war. They think they’ve got us over a barrel.

It doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet that they are no longer dealing with the defeatist Theresa May, who was prepared to offer any concession and swallow any amount of humiliation in her pathetic, demeaning attempts to stifle a proper Brexit.

There’s a new sheriff in town. He’s the man who led the Vote Leave campaign and has just been re-elected Prime Minister with a thumping 80- seat parliamentary majority after an election fought on the simple slogan: Get Brexit Done. His sidekick is a sociopath who masterminded both the victorious Leave and recent Tory General election campaigns.

DOMINIC Cummings would probably prefer to accept Brussels’ surrender in a railway carriage in the French countryside rather than cede an inch in the coming negotiations. Does Barnier really think this administration will ever agree to Britain remaining a vassal state of the eU? If so, he’s been hitting the Pernod too hard lately. Mother Theresa was willing to postpone our departure until the Twelfth of Never if necessary. Boris is determined we won’t linger one second past midnight on December 31.

This time we hold the winning hand. There’ll be no retreat. We are prepared to walk away, Renee — or Michel, or Jean-Yves, or whoever Brussels fancies sending along to cross the I’s and dot the T’s.

It’s time we stopped referring to the eU as our ‘ partners’ and started calling them our ‘rivals’ or ‘competitors’. If they want continued access to their biggest export market and our co- operation in military and security matters, they have to get real. Fast.

We won’t be bullied. The City is big enough, ugly enough and powerful enough to look after itself. If Boris sells out the fishermen it will kill him in those coastal constituencies which voted Tory for the first time. And he knows it.

The eU is facing an existential crisis and is terrified that Britain will make a roaring success of Brexit, while europe implodes.

On the other side of the Channel,

Babylon is burning. But that’s not our immediate problem. We are once again masters of our own destiny. There’s a whole wide world out there, gagging to do business with us.

The eU has far more to lose than we do. Our Man Frost is not going naked into the negotiating chamber. He should simply tell Barnier and his buddies:

enough of the empty threats. We’re off whether you like it or not. If you want to rip yourselves apart, have a nice day.

But if you want to carry on selling your cars, fridges, food and wine in Britain, it’s time to cut out the grand- standing and cut a deal.