LET’S PLAY AUSSIE RULES
■ PRIME MINISTER WARNS OF STRONG CHANCE OF NO DEAL ■ MEANWHILE BRUSSELS RAMPS UP ITS BREXIT MEASURES
BORIS JOHNSON has put Britain on notice for the ‘strong possibility’ of a no-deal Brexit with Aussie-style trade rules – as Europe ramped up pressure before Sunday’s new deadline. The prime minister told the cabinet and then the country he could not accept ‘level playing field’ guarantees demanded by the EU.
Earlier, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisted on access to British fishing grounds for the whole of 2021 in return for new emergency rules to keep planes flying here and lorries crossing Europe for six months. After the failure to reach a deal over a three-hour dinner in Brussels on Wednesday, the PM said it was more likely we would trade with the EU on looser terms when the transition period ended on New Year’s Eve.
He said: ‘There is a strong possibility
– a strong possibility – that we will have a solution much more like the Australian relationship with the EU than Canadian.
‘It doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing – there are plenty of ways we can turn that to the advantage of both sides.’
At a Cabinet meeting, he said: ‘The deal on the table is really not at the moment right for the UK.
‘They’ve brought back the idea of equivalence between the UK and the EU which basically means, whatever new laws they brought in, we would have to follow or else face punishment, sanctions, tariffs or whatever.
‘It was put to me this was kind of a bit like twins. The UK is one twin, the EU is another. If the EU decides to have a haircut then the UK is going to have a haircut or else face punishment.
‘Or if the EU decides to buy an expensive handbag, then the UK has to buy an expensive handbag, too, or face tariffs. Clearly that is not sensible and it’s unlike any other free trade deal.’
As talks between Britain’s chief negotiator Lord Frost and EU
counterpart Michel Barnier resumed yesterday, Ms von der Leyen warned it would be ‘difficult’ to reach a deal.
At a summit of EU leaders, she said of her ‘very long conversation’ with Mr Johnson: ‘It is difficult. We are willing to grant access to the single market to our British friends – it is the largest single market in the world.
‘But the conditions have to be fair for our workers and for our companies, and this fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far.’
The PM’s official spokesman hit back: ‘We would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state.’
The UK would ‘look closely’ at the mini-deals proposed by the EU if there was no overall agreement, he added.
As well as fishing access, contingency measures announced by Ms von der Leyen would allow road freight and passenger travel to continue for six months, as long as Britain gave similar rights to EU hauliers.
Another measure suggests six more months of permitted air travel between Britain and the EU. This would allow UK carriers to fly across the bloc without landing, provide passenger and cargo services and make stops for non-traffic purposes.
At the summit, Irish prime minister Micheál Martin insisted an agreement was yet ‘within reach’. But Sweden’s PM Stefan Lofven said he was ‘gloomy’, adding: ‘As far as I can hear, there is no progress made in the recent days.’
Earlier, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: ‘We’re not going to be treated in a way that no other country would accept, and nor would the EU accept. It’s about some basic respect for democratic principles.’