‘Absurd’ EU is acting like a gang, says Fox
LIAM FOX has accused the European Union of behaving like a “gang” during negotiations by trying to punish Britain for Brexit.
The International Trade Secretary suggested that the European Commission is putting politics before the economic prosperity of its own people.
He told House magazine: “The more I’m at a distance from Europe, the more absurd it looks that you would actually want to diminish the prosperity of your own people to make a political point.
“When the commission would say, ‘We have to do this to make sure no other country would dare to leave,’ it sounds a lot more like the language of a gang than a club.”
Dr Fox also raised concerns that no matter how many trade deals he signs, British business “doesn’t want to export”. He suggested that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) were failing to take advantage of trade deals.
“I can agree as many trade agreements as I like, but if British business doesn’t want to export, that doesn’t do us any good,” he said.
“Our Rolls-royces and our BAE Systems are as good as any other big company in the world. A difference tends to lie at the medium part of the SMES, where our companies are not quite as willing to export as before. We’ve been trying to find ways to help them.”
Downing Street appeared to contradict Dr Fox. A spokesman said: “The UK has a good record for exports, we are running successful campaigns to sell more overseas, we are committed to helping British firms take opportunities available now and after Brexit.”
He said the Budget contained “a number of measures along those lines”.
Dr Fox’s latest comments come a year after his suggestion that business leaders were “too lazy and too fat” to boost prosperity, and would rather play golf than work to secure exports.
He said a “modest push” from Government had delivered a big increase in exports, which suggested that “there’s a lot of slack in our capabilities still”.
He added: “Getting out to our businesses and saying, ‘Here are the changes we’re making, here are the good things that are happening, here are the things you can take advantage of ’, is what I would like to see.”