Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
May makes a dog’s dinner of meal with EU Brexit team
‘Brexit cannot be a success’ she’s told by chief
THERESA May was blasted for her “megaphone diplomacy” last night after reports that she made a total mess of dinner with top EU officials. During the Downing Street meal, European Commission President Jeanclaude Juncker virtually choked when the PM told him the UK is not obliged to pay Brussels a penny for leaving the EU. She was also accused of serving up an unrealistically short timetable for solving the issue of what happens to EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit. And she was scoffed at for suggesting key talks could be held in secret. Mr Juncker is said to have told her the EU “is not a golf club” where members can quit and simply pay no more money. And that if the UK refused to pay a divorce settlement – believed to be in the region of £50billion – we would simply be left with no trade deal. Later, Mr Juncker said: “I leave Downing Street ten times as sceptical as I was, adding Brexit “cannot be a success”. After the dinner last week, No10 issued a brief statement saying the PM and Mr Juncker “had a constructive meeting” over a “useful working dinner”. But as her carefully stage-managed campaign rolled into Ormskirk, Lancs, last night, Mrs May did not deny the account ,which was leaked to a German newspaper. She simply dismissed it as “Brussels gossip”. The story also revealed the PM’S apparent irritation at Brexit Secretary David Davis telling the guests how, as a backbencher, he helped challenge then Home Secretary Mrs May in the courts over data retention. He recalled the tale three times at dinner, it was reported. Jeremy Corbyn warned Mrs May’s “megaphone diplomacy” would fail to get a good deal for Britain. Campaigning in Battersea, South London, he said: “She seems to be sending mixed messages. “To start negotiations by threatening to walk away with no deal and set up a low-tax economy on the shores of Europe is not a very sensible way of approaching people with whom half of our trade is done. “It’s going to be difficult, but you start from the basis that you want to reach an agreement… that you have quite a lot of
Using a megaphone to call people names isn’t helpful JEREMY CORBYN ON MRS MAY’S TALKS TECHNIQUE
shared interests and values. If you start from that basis and show respect, you are more likely to get a good deal. “But if you start with a megaphone, calling people silly names, it is not a great start to anything.” Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “Whatever the purpose of these leaks, it is a deeply worrying account and further evidence that Theresa May’s rigid and complacent approach to Brexit negotiations risks leading Britain over a cliff edge. “It is clearer by the day an extreme Tory Brexit poses a severe risk to the British economy and to people’s jobs and living standards. “Theresa May talks about strengthening her hand, but in reality she has misjudged her hand at every turn, weakening Britain’s position. By refusing to acknowledge the complexity and magnitude of the task ahead the Prime Minister increases the risk there will be no deal, the worst of all possible outcomes. “In pursuing a rigid and complacent approach, the Prime Minister now finds herself marginalised and isolated across the continent.” Lib Dem leader Tim Farron warned the reports “blow a massive hole in the Conservative Party’s arguments”. A Government spokesman last night tried to rubbish the German report, saying: “We do not recognise this account. As the Prime Minister
SHADOW BREXIT SECRETARY The Prime Minister now finds herself isolated in Europe SIR KEIR STARMER
and Jean-claude Juncker made clear, this was a constructive meeting ahead of the negotiations formally getting under way.” Meanwhile, ex-lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will today claim the average UK household will be £500 worse off this year than last. And the MPS’ Business select committee will warn today Britain’s nuclear industry has been put at risk by the Government’s rush for a quick Brexit, threatening the UK’S ability to build new power stations and pushing up prices.