Collision course: Brexit trade battle looms as Johnson sets out stall
Boris Johnson gave a speech at the Old Naval College in Greenwich yesterday outlining his government’s Brexit stance. The UK and European Union are on a collision course for a Brexit trade battle as the Prime Minister and Michel Barnier set out competing visions.
“The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas, better in many respects than those of the EU, without the compulsion of a treaty”
BORIS JOHNSON
Prime Minister
Walkout as No 10 tries to hand-pick journalists for Brexit briefing in ‘Trumpian’ move
The UK and EU have published sharply conflicting visions of their future relationship after Brexit, setting up a major clash when the two sides begin negotiating a trade deal next month.
Setting out his government’s objectives in his first speech since the UK left the EU, Boris Johnson insisted he would not accept Brussels rules on competition, subsidies, workers’ rights or the environment.
The Prime Minister said that unless the UK was offered a loose trading arrangement based on the EU’S treaty with Canada, he would pursue an “Australia-style” Brexit – meaning no trade deal at the end of the transition phase that concludes in December.
In Brussels, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted on the need for a “level playing field” in regulations, and warned that allowing European trawlers into British waters was “inextricably linked” to securing a trade deal.
Setting out the EU’S draft negotiating objectives, Mr Barnier pointed to the joint
Political Declaration, agreed with Mr Johnson, which committed the UK to “robust commitments to ensure a level playing field”.
Opposition parties said the Prime Minister was setting the UK up for a fresh “no deal” cliff edge at the end of the year.
The Prime Minister invoked the UK’S history as an 18th century maritime free-trading superpower with a speech in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, south-east London.
“There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policies, subsidies, social protection, the environment or anything similar, any more than the EU should be obliged to accept UK rules,” he told an audience of business leaders and foreign diplomats.
“The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas, better in many respects than those of the EU, without the compulsion of a treaty.”
Downing Street said the UK will agree to some regulatory alignment with the EU, as Canada has done, but would not accept alleged breaches being ruled on by the European Court of Justice.
Mr Johnson confirmed that if a Canada-style agreement was not possible, he would be prepared to walk away without a full trade deal, like Australia’s relationship with the EU.
“The question is whether we agree a trading relationship with the EU comparable to Canada’s or more like Australia’s and I have no doubt that in either case the UK will prosper mightily,” he said.
Mr Johnson insisted that leaving on the far looser terms would be an “unlikely event”, which he claimed was “emphatically” not a no-deal scenario. However, it would leave the UK trading with the EU under the high tariffs set by the World Trade Organisation, though side deals could be struck to ensure areas such as aviation can run smoothly.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that while the government was ready to consider an agreement with Brussels on fisheries, “it must reflect the fact that the UK will be an independent coastal state from the end of this year, controlling our own waters”.
Shortly before Mr Johnson spoke, the EU set out its draft negotiating mandate, calling for “reciprocal access” for fishing vessels, and stating that a free trade area with no tariffs or quotas was contingent on a “level playing field ... ensured through robust commitments”.
Mr Barnier told reporters in Brussels: “It’s clear that the agreement that we wish to have in the interests of UK fishermen and in the interests of European fishermen... will be inextricably linked to the trade agreement, as indeed will be... the agreement on the level playing field agreed with Boris Johnson.” He also warned it would not be possible to complete the whole deal within 11 months.
The SNP’S agriculture spokeswoman at Westminster Deidre Brock MP said the government “must not sell out Scotland’s vital fisheries sector”
“The UK government must now ditch the rhetoric of nonalignment with standards and instead work with our EU neighbours in the interests of Scotland’s coastal communities,” Ms Brock said.
Boris Johnson has been accused of using “Trumpian” tactics after attempts to hand-pick media outlets for a briefing with civil servants prompted a walkout by Westminster journalists.
Political reporters who tried to attend the briefing in 10 Downing Street from the Mirror, i, Huffington Post, Politicshome, Independent and others were told they couldn’t take part.
Scottish and regional publications were not informed about the briefing with David Frost, the Prime Minister’s top Europe adviser who will lead UK trade negotiations with the EU.
The walkout followed a confrontation between journalists and Lee Cain, Mr Johnson’s top communications adviser, in 10 Downing Street. A security guard with a list of names divided the group that arrived for the briefing into two. Mr Cain then asked those not invited to leave, prompting the entire group to walk out. Mr Cain is said to have lost his temper and told journalists: “We’re welcome to brief whoever we like, whenever we like.”
Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said it was a “very alarming incident” and called on Mr Johnson’s government to “stop this paranoia and engage with all the press, not just their favourites”.
Labour shadow culture secretary Tracey Brabin claimed Mr Johnson was “resorting to tactics imported from Donald Trump to hide from scrutiny”. “The future trade agreement with the European Union is an issue of great public importance,” she said. “Those gaining access to such important information should not be cherry picked by Number 10.”
The Westminster press lobby has already written to the government to complain about civil servants briefing of selected media outlets, citing the requirement for the civil service to be politically impartial.
It follows reports that Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s top aide, has banned special advisers across Whitehall from accepting coffees or lunches with journalists. Number 10 has also moved regular daily briefings out of Parliament and into Downing Street, leading to protests from editors across the UK.