BOSS WHO SPOKE UP FOR BRITAIN
After months of threats, Dyson urges ministers to ignore EU’s divorce bill and simply walk away
BRITAIN should reject ‘outrageous’ demands for EU divorce payments and walk away from talks, Sir James Dyson declared last night.
The inventor said the UK was in an ‘incredibly strong’ position in Brexit negotiations and had nothing to fear from leaving without a deal.
Instead of responding to Brussels demands for ‘billions and billions’ in return for trade talks, he said Theresa May should simply call the EU’s bluff and walk away.
In the end, European leaders would ‘come to us’ because they want to export their goods to the UK, he argued.
Sir James pointed out that Europe was the ‘slowest growing area in the world’, and there were ‘fantastic opportunities’ outside the bloc. His remarks came just 48 hours after the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier was accused of blackmail for setting Mrs May a two-week deadline to commit to paying tens of billions more toward the so-called ‘divorce bill’. Tory MPs have already told the Prime Minister to resist his demands.
Last night, Sir James’ suggestion that Britain should just walk away won support from leading pro-Brexit economists and politicians. It came as:
A report said Britain could reap a £65billion Brexit windfall.
Details emerged of a letter by Michael Gove and Boris Johnson warning Mrs May they were ‘profoundly worried’ about the lack of preparations for no deal.
Mr Barnier said he was preparing for the ‘possible’ failure of the talks, amid signs Brussels will demand 60billion euros.
Ministers face a rebellion from Remainer Tories over plans to put the date of Brexit – 11pm on March 29 2019 – on the face of the EU Withdrawal Bill, which returns to the Commons this week.
On Friday, Mr Barnier set Mrs May a deadline of a fortnight to commit to paying tens of billions more to the divorce bill. The PM had already made an implied offer of around £20billion. But unless she offers more, trade negotiations would be delayed until next year, Mr Barnier said.
In an interview with the Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Sir James contrasted the attitude of Brussels with the ‘very reasonable’ approach taken by Britain so far.
‘Demanding billions and billions to leave is quite outrageous and demanding it before we’ve negotiated anything is outrageous,’ he said. ‘So I would walk away. I think it’s the only way to deal with them.’ He added: ‘I’ve been dealing with the EU and the EU countries for the last 25 years. If you walk away they’ll come to us because they want to export all their products to us. We’re in a very, very strong position...’
Sir James spoke of ‘fantastic opportunity’ outside Europe, which he said is the slowest growing area in the world and forecast 90 per cent of future growth will come outside the EU. He also dismissed Bank of England warnings about Britain ‘falling off a cliff’ if it reverted to World Trade Organisapany Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The Government should consult successful businessmen like Sir James Dyson on how Brexit should go. All of the countries in Europe will never accept any barriers to trade.’
Professor Patrick Minford, chairman of the Economists for Free Trade group, said: ‘The talks are just a piece of theatre, and I agree with James Dyson that we just shouldn’t fall for this any more.’
The pro-Brexit group also says Britain could reap a £65billion windfall by slashing duties on imported goods, cutting red tape and ending our payments to Brussels.
John Longworth, of pro-Brexit group Leave Means Leave, said: ‘If we adopt free trade instead of kowtowing to Brussels we will be much better off economically, and we should certainly not pay the moon as the EU are demanding.’
In an interview with a French newspaper, Mr Barnier said a nodeal scenario was ‘a possibility’ and ‘everyone needs to plan for it’. He also said it was ‘vital’ for Britain to increase its offer on its exit Bill, which reports put it at up to 60billion euros.
Mr Davis told Sky News the the ‘real deadline’ for agreement on divorce cash was an EU summit in mid-December.
He said taxpayers ‘would not want me to come along and just give away billions of pounds’.