The EU acts like a playground bully – it’s time we stood up to it

We are, I believe, at a critical juncture in negotiations with the EU. For too long they have been too one sided. The UK behaves as a friend who wants an amicable divorce whilst the EU acts like an opponent that wishes to impose its will and force the UK to repent the folly of its ways.

My problem isn’t, however, with the EU’s behaviour, as I have always believed they behave like the playground bully whenever it suits them. No, my concern is that we, the UK, need to change our negotiating stance accordingly. Too often it seems as though it is the UK which negotiates as a supplicant when, as the EU’s largest trade partner, there is a great deal that is at stake for the EU if these negotiations go wrong. We need, for example, to understand that the EU’s position also masks a weakness, for they are petrified that the UK will leave the EU and become a serious trade competitor thus not only damaging the EU’s trading position but also, internally, emboldening those in the EU who are beginning to question the purpose of this centralised, protectionist behemoth. Recent elections across the EU have shown that.

The EU Council in June is fast approaching. It is there when having placed our enhanced border arrangements (Maxfac) on the table we should say that we are not prepared to discuss this further. We should point out that notwithstanding the short term internal Irish election issues; the commitment we have made to a frictionless border is achievable if both sides have the political will.

Our requirement is that we move now to trade discussions. If they refuse and want instead to continue their border demands then we must have the resolve to get up and leave the table. There are also many amongst the EU 27 who are growing wary of the EU’s arrogant game plan as it is they who stand to lose if we fail to reach a trade arrangement because of the Commission’s intransigence. We need them to recognise our limits and force them to calculate the risks they face.

Determined to remain at the table at all costs, we have twisted ourselves into knots redefining phrases like alignment and backstops and partnerships in our attempts to meet the EU’s endless and arrogant demands. In the June council we would do well to be instead guided by the words of Lewis Carroll: “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”

Iain Duncan Smith is a Tory MP and the former Work and Pensions Secretary