IT’S MY WAY OR HIGHWAY WITH NO DEAL
No10 approach is dismissed as ‘bunkum’
BORIS Johnson has threatened to walk away from EU talks in June without a trade deal and without publishing what the economic impact would be for the country.
Whitehall officials said they are ready to step up preparations for leaving the EU on bare bones World Trade Organisation rules if there is no sign of an agreement in crunch talks by the summer.
Johnson has already made it clear he will play hardball in the trade talks by refusing to accept the so-called “level playing field” with the same regulations as the EU after the transition period comes to an end in December.
But the Prime Minister rejected claims that he is going back on promises he made in the political declaration last year to agree level playing field rules with the EU.
He said: “People may dimly recall that I left the Government, whenever it was, a couple of years ago, because I couldn’t accept the idea that we were going to be locked into the EU’s legal and regulatory orbit forever under the so-called Chequers deal, which people have now forgotten. The whole objective of doing what we’re doing is so the UK can do things differently and better.”
But Mike Russell MSP, the Scottish Government’s Brexit minister, said Johnson’s red lines on not aligning to EU regulations and his willingness to walk away with no deal was “the worst possible start to negotiations”. The warning that Britain will walk away and set up customs posts with the EU came as Downing Street published a 30-page document setting out what it wants to achieve in the talks, due to kick off on Monday. The document said “the UK is committed to working in a speedy and determined fashion” with a broad outline of an agreement in time for a stocktaking meeting in June. Labour’s Pat McFadden said the document showed the Government has made a “fundamental choice” to prioritise sovereignty over any economic argument whatever the consequences.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “What a load of bunkum, baloney and codswallop. This is nothing other than a routemap to the cherished no-deal – the real ambition of these Brexit zealots.
“They’re even now prepared to break international law in order to achieve this outcome.”
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady accused the government of “recklessly endangering working people’s jobs and rights”.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said on Tuesday the EU would “not conclude an agreement at any price”.