May begins fightback against Brussels threats to punish us
THERESA May last night pledged a “robust” fightback against Brussels’ demands for draconian powers to punish Britain during the two-year Brexit transition period.
Speaking to MPs, the Prime Minister dismissed the EU threat as “noises off” ahead of the next round of departure negotiations.
Her remarks followed a leaked document from Brussels detailing plans for the European Commission to hit the UK with tariffs and other penalties for any breaches of EU rules.
The document said the UK would only be “consulted” when decisions are made on fishing quotas over the period.
It also hinted that the Brexit divorce fee could be hiked above the £39billion already agreed between the Governof ment and Brussels, with an extra bill to cover a share of EU defence and security initiatives during transition.
The negotiating paper triggered fury among Tory MPs and Brexit campaigners while Ukip MEP Nigel Farage feared the proposals could turn Britain into an EU “puppet regime” comparable to the collaborationist Vichy government in France under the Nazis during the Second World War.
Mr Farage said: “Mrs May’s transition period will be a worse form of EU membership during which the bully boys of Brussels can do what they want to us. We will be in Vichy Britain.”
During Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons yesterday Mrs May was urged to stand up to the threat from Brussels.
She told MPs: “We will be robust in our arguments. As I’ve said from the very beginning we will hear noises off, we will hear all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken.
“What matters is the positions we take as we sit down and negotiate the best deal. We’ve shown we can do that. We did it in December and we’re going to do it again.”
Tory MP Sir William Cash, chairman the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, had asked her: “Will she be good enough to be very robust when discussing these matters in the Brexit Committee, as I am sure that she will be, so that we ensure that we repudiate any of these EU threats?”
However, away from the Commons chamber other Tory Eurosceptics were appalled by the latest negotiating demands from Brussels.
MP Andrew Bridgen said: “The European Commission wants to be judge, jury and executioner. If this is a way of bullying the Government or the British people, they have misjudged it.”
Mr Bridgen urged the Prime Minister to scrap the current talks over the proposed two-year “implementation phase” of adjustment after Brexit in response to the EU’s “posturing”.
He said: “We should forget talking about transition and get on with talking about a trade deal. If we don’t have an acceptable long-term relationship agreed, then we don’t need transition.”
Mr Bridgen said Eurosceptic Tories would not support any trade deal that was worth less to the UK than the £39billion the country was having to pay to Brussels as a divorce settlement.
Under plans released by the European Commission, Brussels would be able to restrict the UK’s access to the single market without going through the lengthy European Court of Justice legal process.
Mrs May’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has been clear we are having an implementation period to give certainty to business and ensure that we have a smooth Brexit.
“But once that implementation period is over we will be taking back control of our borders, of our laws and of our money.
“And then we will be able to strike free trade deals around the world.”