Boris battles Brussels
He fires back his own salvo as EU war of words grows
THE war of words between Brussels and the British Government intensified last night as Boris Johnson hit back at criticism of Brexit Secretary David Davis.
EU officials were accused of treating the UK ‘with contempt’ on Thursday after it emerged that European Commission President Jean- Claude Juncker had suggested Mr Davis was lazy and unstable.
But yesterday, on a visit to Estonia, Mr Johnson called for EU leaders to ‘work together’ with the UK.
Asked if he was confident that Mr Davis would get a deal with the EU, the Foreign
‘Not beyond the wit of man’
Secretary said: ‘ Absolutely, with rock solid confidence.’ His comments came as the European Parliament’s chief negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, sparked uproar by accusing Britain of ‘poisoning’ relations between the two sides with its post-Brexit immigration plans.
Minutes of a private meeting suggested Mr Juncker had told colleagues Mr Davis was unstable and wasn’t taking the negotiations seriously.
It sparked fury among Tory MPs who said the EU was treating Britain with ‘contempt’. But Mr Verhofstadt blamed the UK for ill-will. He said Home Office post-Brexit immigration plans, which were leaked this week, had ‘ poisoned the diplomatic well’.
Detailed plans for how Britain will manage its borders after Brexit emerged on Tuesday. They suggested ministers will take a tough line on migration.
Low- skilled migrants could be forced to leave after two years as part of efforts to slash net migration, the proposals said.
Last night Tory MP Peter Bone said Mr Verhofstadt’s comments ‘don’t make sense’. ‘There is good will from the British side, but there is an EU elite who are out of touch with both their own countries and the UK.’
Speaking to reporters in the Estonian capital Tallinn, Mr Johnson was upbeat about the outcome of talks. He insisted that finding a solution for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit is ‘ not beyond the wit of man’.
On Thursday Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said he was worried by Britain’s plans for the border arrangement with Ireland and asked London to come up with ‘creative proposals’.
But Mr Johnson said: ‘I think we can all work together to come up with a solution on that one. It is not beyond the wit of man. We’ve had a common travel area between the North and the South of Ireland for getting on for a century and we’re going to continue to make that work.’
Mr Johnson also reiterated London’s stance – firmly rejected by the EU – that the divorce talks should run alongside discussion about the post-Brexit relationship between the two sides.
The bloc wants to solve key exit issues before opening talks about any future trade cooperation with Britain. Mr Johnson disagreed, saying the legal clause for leaving the EU, or Article 50, did mention taking into account a future relationship with the departing country.
‘Article 50 makes it very clear that the discussion about the exit of a country must be taken in context with discussion of the future arrangements. And that’s what we’re going to do,’ he said.
WHAT a dismal, unadventurous, gutless bunch are the bosses of Britain’s biggest companies and their professional bodies.
As Brexit nears – with the promise of freedom from the over-regulated, inwardlooking, protectionist bloc of the EU – wonderful opportunities are opening up for firms with the vision to grab them.
Yet where are the business leaders with the imagination and courage to blow the trumpet for Britain’s prospects in the wider world? This week, we’ve heard nothing but petulance and sullen resentment.
Ask them privately, and most will admit that Brexit will bring nothing like the upheaval predicted by Project Fear.
After all, trade with our European partners accounts for barely a tenth of the UK economy, the fifth largest in the world. Indeed, nine out of ten of our small and medium-sized firms don’t export to the EU (although all are bound by Brussels rules).
Meanwhile, over 70 per cent of national income comes from services, a sector largely unaffected by the single market.
So even if Brussels opts for self-harm by starting a trade war (our partners sell more to us than we do to them), Brexit would put only a tiny fraction of our economy at risk. And it’s not as if all our EU trade would suddenly cease.
Overseas firms have been quick to grasp these truths. Indeed, in a resounding display of confidence, foreign direct investment in Britain has risen to a record high since the Brexit vote.
But what about our own business leaders? Off the record, most may be happy to admit that the dangers of withdrawal have been wildly exaggerated – so much so that many FTSE 100 firms don’t even mention Brexit in their company reports.
Yet in public, they’ve uttered not a squeak of support for Britain’s negotiators, leaving David Davis and his team to fight alone against the obstruction of that sneering Luxembourgeois tippler, Jean- Claude Juncker, and his Eurocrat commissars.
Contemptibly, FTSE 100 bosses even deliberately embarrassed Theresa May by leaking No 10’s request for them to sign a letter backing her strategy and declaring a commitment to make Brexit a success.
These are the same bosses, remember – some now laden with gongs – who sycophantically parroted Project Fear’s lies at the Cameron government’s behest.
Do they really want Mrs May to fail, with the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and the trade unions running their affairs? Given the constant Remoaner carping of their house journal, the Japanese- owned Financial Times, you might well get that impression.
Adding to the chorus of moans, meanwhile, Institute of Directors chief Barbara Judge this week attacked the leaked Home Office plans to control immigration after Brexit.
True, a low-wage foreign workforce may suit lazy bosses with multi-million-pound salaries. Yet it betrays both Britain’s unemployed and the hundreds of thousands on zero-hours contracts or in part-time work, who yearn for full-time jobs.
Leave aside that mass migration puts intolerable pressure on housing, public services and social cohesion. Can’t Lady Judge see that cheap foreign labour is also a crippling deterrent to improving productivity, the key to prosperity?
This country has so much to boast about – not least our global lead in the industries of the future, such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
It is sheer defeatism to suggest we should remain a low-wage, mass immigration economy, in thrall to an unelected foreign bureaucracy whose sclerotic policies have caused mass unemployment across many of its member states.
Business leaders should stop fighting last year’s battle, speak up for Britain and our negotiators – and strain every sinew to make Brexit a success.