Forte blasts ‘incompetent’ deal as bad for business

SIR ROCCO FORTE, the British hotelier, has accused “incompetent” Theresa May of bungling Brexit and urged the Government to leave the EU on World Trade Organsisation terms because Europe is an “uncompetitive” place to do business.

Describing the Prime Minister as an “arch-Remainer”, the former Tory donor said a “third-rate negotiator in any middle-sized company” would have done a better job, and called for Boris Johnson to take over.

Likening the hysteria around no deal to the millennium bug, he lambasted Mrs May’s “defeatist” attitude, accusing her of going “cap in hand” to the EU. “Frankly,” he said, “I think Boris is the only one with a vision.”

Despite owning 11 hotels including nine in Europe, the 73-year-old entrepreneur said Britain would be “far better off ” leaving on WTO terms.

He told The Sunday Telegraph: “I’d prefer no deal to anything else because then we’re fully free, we don’t have to pay any money, we can use the £40billion to invest in the north of England.

“It’s a bit like the millennium bug. There’s a lot of guff talked, mostly by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. WTO means frictionless trade. We may have some short-term disruption, but it’s not going to be very long lived. Fifty-five per cent of our trade is with the rest of the world.”

Sir Rocco added: “The Government has always insisted the deal is good for business but it’s not. It might be good for a very small proportion, but 95 per cent of businesses don’t trade with Europe, so why should they be subject to European laws and regulations?”