Corbyn attacks May for Brexit ‘megaphone’ diplomacy
THERESA May came under fire over her Brexit negotiating strategy yesterday following reports European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker walked out of talks saying he was “10 times more sceptical than before”.
Opposition parties warned the UK was heading for a “disastrous hard Brexit” after a detailed account of their meeting last week in Downing Street suggested Mr Juncker left fearing the talks would end in failure.
Downing Street last night said it did not recognise the latest report which appeared in the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper.
However, the reported disclosures – attributed to commission sources – threatened to sour the mood between London and Brussels before negotiations have even begun.
The EU side – which included chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier – was said to have concluded that Mrs May was way too optimistic about the prospects for a deal.
When the Prime Minister told them “Let us make Brexit a success”, Mr Juncker was said to have replied “Brexit cannot be a success”.
At one point – to underline the complexity of negotiations – the commission president was said to have brandished copies of Croatia’s EU entry deal and Canada’s free trade deal which runs to 2,000 pages.
Mrs May was also said to have angered the EU side when she warned that the UK could not be forced to pay a “divorce bill” for leaving because there was no requirement under the treaties, which drew the response that the EU was “not a golf club”.
As he left, Mr Juncker was said to have told her: “I leave Downing St 10 times as sceptical as I was before.”
The following morning he rang German chancellor Angela Merkel to warn her that Mrs May’s approach was from a “different galaxy”.
Mrs Merkel responded by re-writing a speech she was giving that day to warn that some in Britain were still harbouring “illusions” about the Brexit process.
Jeremy Corbyn yesterday seized on the reports to hit out at Theresa May’s Brexit negotiating strategy, warning her “megaphone” diplomacy would not get a good deal for Britain.
The Labour leader said threatening to walk away from the talks without an agreement was not a sensible way of dealing with countries responsible for half of the UK’s overseas trade.
Campaigning in Battersea, south London, Mr Corbyn said a Labour government would approach the negotiations with “respect and sense”.
“She (Mrs May) seems to be sending rather mixed messages.
“To start negotiations by threatening to walk away with no deal and set up a low tax economy on the shores of Europe is not a very sensible way of approaching people with whom half of our trade is done at the present time.
“Of course they are going to be difficult [negotiations], but you start from the basis that you want to reach an agreement, you start from the basis that you have quite a lot of shared interests and values.
“If you start from that basis and show respect, you are more likely to get a good deal. But if you start with a megaphone, calling people silly names, it is not a great start to anything.”
The reports from Brussels suggested Mr Juncker warned a summit of leaders from the remaining EU 27 on Saturday that the Brexit negotiations could collapse because of the differences of the two sides on key issues.
They followed Wednesday’s meeting at No 10, which included Mr Barnier, and which was said to have gone “very badly”.
Mrs May dismissed claims she is at loggerheads with Mr Juncker over her Brexit negotiating strategy as just “Brussels gossip”.
Campaigning in Ormskirk in Lancashire, Mrs May brushed off the claims insisting that they were at odds with what the commission had said about the meeting.
“From what I have seen of this account, I think it is Brussels gossip,” she said. “Look at what the European Commission themselves said immediately after the dinner took place which was that the talks had been constructive.”
In response, opposition parties said the UK Government was heading for a “hard Brexit” which would leave people worse off.
Labour shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “Whatever the purpose of these leaks, this is a deeply worrying account and further evidence that Theresa May’s rigid and