Raab bristles against stubborn Brussels as Sir Vince says leaving could ruin Strictly

DOMINIC RAAB has warned that Britain will leave the EU without a deal if Brussels takes a “deliberately intransigent” approach to talks.

The Brexit Secretary also said that French authorities in Calais might adopt a “go-slow” approach deliberately to cause chaos for trade across the English Channel.

But the European Commission last night rejected Mr Raab’s criticisms, insisting it was working to reach a deal.

Mr Raab told MPS in the Commons: “There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engage in a deliberately intransigent approach.”

Theresa May claims a deal on the UK’S divorce from the EU is 95 per cent complete, but the Irish border remains a major stumbling block.

The Government is reportedly considering chartering ships to ensure food and medicines can be brought in through alternative routes if there are problems on the Calais-dover crossing. Mr Raab told MPS: “We need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, where the authorities at Calais are deliberately directing a go-slow approach, by supporting a diversion of the flow to more amenable ports in other countries.”

He added that the Government was looking at “all possible contingencies to ensure that in a no-deal scenario British businesses and livelihoods are safeguarded”.

Responding to Mr Raab’s claims of intransigence, Mina Andreeva, an EU spokesman, said: “The European Commission does not enter into any blame games. We want to reach a deal with the United Kingdom on its orderly withdrawal from the EU.”

In Brussels, senior politicians including Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, and Ian Blackford, the SNP’S Westminster leader, held talks with Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, urging him to make emergency plans to give Britain time for a second referendum before March 29.

He told Mr Barnier that public opinion in Britain was shifting against Brexit. “There is substantial political support for a people’s vote, not just in the streets but in the polls,” Sir Vince said later, referring to the London protest that attracted 700,000 marchers.

Sir Vince insisted that if a second referendum were held and resulted in another vote for Leave, the Liberal Democrats would respect the result “for the foreseeable future”.

However, Eurosceptics accused Sir Vince of indulging in “Project Fear with tassels” when he went on to warn that Brexit could ruin Strictly Come Dancing, saying post-brexit migration rules might rob the show of many of its foreign professionals.

Andrew Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, said most Strictly dancers were non-eu citizens and would not encounter problems. “It is surely time he waltzed off into retirement,” he added.

Jacob Rees-mogg, the leader of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPS, said: “The idea that Brexit will have any effect on Strictly is simply silly. I wouldn’t hold myself up as an expert – I watched it when Ed Balls was on it but never since. But it is hard to see that immigration rules are key to the success of Strictly or otherwise. There are already effective and efficient immigration provisions for artists such as opera singers and ballet dancers.”

At a meeting at the European Commission, the Government pledged to introduce an immigration system after Brexit that would apply to non-eu and EU citizens alike and a White Paper is soon to be published.

A spokesman said: “This will be a new global immigration system which selects people on the basis of skill, not nationality.”

The Prime Minister and Chancellor Philip Hammond will meet 120 chief executives and investors next Wednesday, two days after Mr Hammond presents the last scheduled Budget before Brexit.

‘There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engage in a deliberately intransigent approach’