You can’t have it both ways, Davis tells Brussels

TORY Cabinet minister David Davis last night warned the EU they could not have it both ways in the Brexit negotiations.

Mr Davis’s stance with Brussels emerged after EU negotiator Michel Barnier threatened to scrap the country’s two-year Brexit transition.

In an outburst that plunged the departure talks into a fresh stalemate, the EU diplomat claimed the period of adjustment proposed by Prime Minister Theresa May was “not a given”.

He also raised the stakes in the row over the Irish border by claiming customs checks were “unavoidable” because of Mrs May’s insistence that the UK is quitting the EU’s single market and customs union.

Mr Davis hit back by dismissing the EU’s stance as a “fundamental contradiction”.

Ministers are furious the EU wants sweeping powers to impose sanctions on the UK during a transition.

Yet it rejects British demands for the right to object to any new EU regulations imposed during that period. Mr Davis said: “It is not possible to have it both ways.”

The bad-tempered clash dramatically raised the chance of Britain quitting the EU without a deal.

Mr Barnier’s salvo followed a week of sniping between the Government and Brussels over arrangements for a two-year implementation period.

Mr Barnier, speaking at a news conference in Brussels, was unable to hide his irritation. He claimed the UK had to accept the consequences of the Brexit referendum vote.

He said: “To be quite frank, if these disagreements persist, the transition is not a given. Time is short, very short, and we haven’t a minute to lose if we want to succeed.”

The two sides face a deadline of March 22 to agree the transition arrangements before talks on a trade deal can begin.

Mr Barnier claimed to be unable to understand the “uproar” in Britain over the EU’s transition demands. He said: “There is no wish whatsoever to punish.”

Senior backbencher Jacob ReesMogg, who heads a 60-strong group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, last night urged the Government to abandon the idea of a Brexit transition.

He said: “I would be happy to move to World Trade Organisation terms without transition and save £39billion that could be spent on the NHS.”