Barnier slide chart offers Britain a ‘Canada deal or no deal’
MICHEL BARNIER has told EU leaders in Brussels that Britain’s only alternative to a “no deal” Brexit was a Canada-style trading arrangement, using a diagram to prove his point that the UK’S red lines made any other outcome impossible.
In the first full Cabinet discussion of the “end state” of Britain’s relationship with the EU this week, Theresa May said a Canada-style deal was not enough.
Mr Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, has insisted that Britain cannot have a bespoke deal and that the future relationship must be based on a pre-existing arrangement between the bloc and a non-eu country.
The slide, shown to the EU 27 leaders at a summit last week, compares different agreements with British red lines to see if they are compatible. The European Commission’s stark conclusion is that Britain must choose between a Canada-style free trade deal with no access for services, opt for a return to WTO rules in a no deal Brexit, or compromise on some of its red lines.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, used the Cabinet meeting to warn colleagues not to re-run “project fear”, as part of the Remain campaign was nicknamed during the referendum.