PM full of sound and fury as he threatens to tear up EU rulebook
A ‘no-deal’ Brexit could be back in play following statements by Boris Johnson and Michel Barnier about their respective negotiating positions in advance of phase two talks, says chief reporter Martin Shipton
ANYONE who thought Brexit was done last Friday evening had better think again. In a month’s time, the UK Government and EU negotiators will embark on talks which have the potential to be far more acrimonious than phase one last year.
The two protagonists set out their stalls yesterday – but to describe them as an evenly matched duo would be to brutalise the truth.
Boris Johnson and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, are vastly different characters.
Mr Johnson is a blustering politician always with his eye on buttering up his core support, while Mr Barnier – with no elections to win – can afford to combine the measured tones of a technocrat with a considerable degree of urbanity, developed over the years.
Mr Johnson, in a speech full of rhetoric but little substance, made his case for moving away from EU regulations with a bluff disregard for anything that may have been said before.
He told his audience at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich – where the appearance of Admiral Lord Nelson would not have appeared amiss – that his preference was for a Canada-style deal with no tariffs, but that he would rather accept a loose “Australian-style” relationship with the EU that involved tariffs than accept alignment with any Brussels regulations or oversight by European courts.
The Prime Minister pledged to use the UK’s “newly recaptured powers” after Brexit to head “out into the world”. He did, however, decline to mention Brexit, saying it was now in the past and that the country needed to move on.
Mr Barnier, with his customary forensic attention, had clearly anticipated what Mr Johnson was planning to say, for he had prepared a well-argued rebuttal.
His version of the future relationship between the two parties involved a vision in which the UK and EU maintain a level playing field.
Crucially, he reminded Mr Johnson of the UK’s “very important” pledge that it would stay true to EU rules on subsidies and standards.
Mr Barnier pointed to the political declaration agreed last year with Mr Johnson, while admitting that alignment was a “red rag” to Westminster.
Brussels is demanding that the UK “dynamically aligns” on state aid and competition regulations to prevent the British Government from subsidising elements of the economy such as steel, aerospace or the car industry.
The European Court of Justice would act as the final arbiter of EU law. The EU is also seeking “nonregression” on environmental and social standards and workers’ rights.
Mr Barnier said: “There can’t be possibly any surprise on the British side to hear that, if we are acting in good faith here.
“I say that because in the text of the political declaration... there are some very clear words there. A full chapter that talks about the description of the level playing field and the objective of having fair and open competition.
“In that text, Boris Johnson and we... both say that we are keen to avoid any distortion of competition and any unfair competitive advantages. That is what we are talking about here. There is nothing surprising in that... I can tell you that he and his team paid attention to every word and comma in the text that commits us on both sides.”
And indeed, it takes no more than a second to track down from a Google search the section of the political declaration to which Mr Barnier was referring, and to which Mr Johnson signed up as recently as last November.
It begins: “Given the EU and the UK’s geographic proximity and economic interdependence, the future relationship must ensure open and fair competition, encompassing robust commitments to ensure a level playing field.
“The precise nature of commitments should be commensurate with the scope and depth of the future relationship and the economic connectedness of the parties.
“These commitments should prevent distortions of trade and unfair competitive advantages. To that end, the parties should uphold the common high standards applicable in the EU and the UK at the end of the transition period in the areas of state aid, competition, social and employment standards, environment, climate change, and relevant tax matters. “The parties should in particular maintain a robust and comprehensive framework for competition and state aid control that prevents undue distortion of trade and competition; commit to the principles of good governance in the area of taxation and to the curbing of harmful tax practices; and maintain environmental, social and employment standards at the current high levels provided by the existing common standards.”
This statement seems very straightforward and not open to misinterpretation. It’s worth keeping close by as negotiations get under way and we await an onslaught of propaganda telling us how the UK has been betrayed by the EU, which is intent on stopping us getting the wonderful free trade deal our negotiators had been encouraged to believe would be readily available.