The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Once we’re out of EU, we are truly out, warns Boris
Foreign Secretary says there can be no extended period of Brexit transition
A defiant Boris Johnson has insisted there can be no extended “transition” period after Britain leaves the EU as Theresa May sought to stamp her authority on her Cabinet over the Brexit negotiations.
The Prime Minister said the talks were being “driven from the front” after the Foreign Secretary’s dramatic weekend intervention setting out his vision for life outside the EU in a 4,000word newspaper article.
Attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Johnson – who received a welcome from US President Donald Trump – denied accusations he was trying to act as a “back-seat driver” in the talks with Brussels before a keynote speech by Mrs May in Florence on Friday.
However, in an interview with BBC News, he again reiterated his demands the UK should not have to make “extortionate” payments to Brussels for continued access to EU markets and that any transitional arrangements should be strictly time-limited.
Speculation has been mounting Mrs May will use her Florence speech to offer to pay tens of billions of pounds to the EU during a two to three-year transition deal after the UK’s formal exit in 2019 to break the deadlock in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters on board her flight to Canada, the Prime Minister said the Cabinet was fully united behind her approach to the Brexit talks.
“This government is driven from the front and we are all going to the same destination, ” she said.
“We are all agreed as a government about the importance of ensuring the right deal for Britain.”
The Foreign Secretary said he accepted Mrs May was in charge of the negotiations.
“There is one driver in this car. It’s Theresa. What I am trying to do is sketch out what I think is the incredible exciting landscape of the destination ahead,” he said. “Let’s not try and find rows when there really aren’t rows. I think it is a good thing to have a bit of an opening drum roll about what this country can do.”
He made clear, however, that he stood by his arguments over the transition period. “It is pretty important that it shouldn’t be too long,” he said.
“We certainly don’t want to be paying in extortionate sums for access to the single market. They wouldn’t pay for access to our market.”