UK warns EU on Brexit: We won't blink first

By Guy Faulconbridge and Gabriela Baczynska

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Europe adviser David Frost leaves the European Commission headquarters after a meeting with officials in Brussels, Belgium, October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/Files

 

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain will not blink first in Brexit trade negotiations with the European Union and is not scared of a no-deal exit at the end of the year, the country's top Brexit negotiator warned the bloc on Sunday.

 

Britain left the EU on Jan. 31 but talks have so far made little headway on agreeing a new trade deal for when a status-quo transition arrangement ends in December.

 

"We came in after a government and negotiating team that had blinked and had its bluff called at critical moments and the EU had learned not to take our word seriously," negotiator David Frost told the Mail on Sunday.

 

"So a lot of what we are trying to do this year is to get them to realise that we mean what we say and they should take our position seriously," he was quoted as saying.

 

Talks are due to resume in London on Tuesday but they have stalled over Britain's insistence that it have full autonomy over state aid and its demands over fishing.

 

Britain says the EU is dragging its feet in talks and has failed to fully accept that it is now an independent country.

 

"We are not going to be a client state. We are not going to compromise on the fundamentals of having control over our own laws," Frost told the Mail. "We are not going to accept level playing field provisions that lock us in to the way the EU do things."

 

"That's what being an independent country is about, that's what the British people voted for and that's what will happen at the end of the year, come what may," Frost said.

 

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the week ahead would be a wake-up call for the EU.

 

"We've got to a position where there's only two points really that are holding us back," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme.

 

UK fisheries had been "pretty much decimated" as a result of EU membership, he said, and the bloc wanted to keep British access to its waters "permanently low".

 

"That can't be right," he said.

 

On state aid, Raab said Britain had led the charge against government intervention since the 1980s, but the issue was "an absolutely critical element of policy making".

 

At heart, Britain is pressing one of the EU’s most sensitive buttons – the fear that a post-Brexit Britain could become a much more agile, deregulated free-market competitor on its border by using selective state aid.

 

"More and more people have come to the conclusion that Brexit ideology trumps Brexit pragmatism in the UK government," said one EU diplomat.

 

"If the UK really wanted to jump off the Brexit cliff edge for ideological reasons, there would be no way for the EU to stop this," the diplomat said. "If, on the other hand, the UK’s approach became more pragmatic and realistic, there would probably be a good chance to save the negotiations and agree on a deal."

 

Frost said a lot of preparation had been done for a possible exit without a trade deal.

 

"I don't think that we are scared of this at all," Frost said. "If we can reach an agreement that regulates trade like Canada's, great. If we can't, it will be an Australian-like trading agreement and we are fully ready for that."

 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Paul Sandle in London and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by William Schomberg and Mark Potter)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-07

 

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All waffle and hot air.

Good on the UK. Be tough and protect our fisheries.

8 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

Good on the UK. Be tough and protect our fisheries.

What about protecting the beaches from illegal immigrants. They talk a good fight on the EU talks, but are utterly useless.

31 minutes ago, webfact said:

UK fisheries had been "pretty much decimated" as a result of EU membership, he said, and the bloc wanted to keep British access to its waters "permanently low".

 

"That can't be right," he said.

It´s quite simple. If Britain leaves EU without a trade deal, then they will have all access in the world to it´s waters. Great deal Mr Raab. Go for it!

The UK is learning what has always been, and always will be, the problem with Socialism.

 

You can vote your way into Socialism, but you have to fight your way out.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to say that if no agreement on trade between the EU and UK can be reached by 15 October both sides should "accept that and move on".https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54051933

 

Last week Boris visited the Queen with all three of the privy council, reports are Charles was also there and rather happy afterwards. 

 

Hotel California - You can check out any time you want but you can never leave.. ????

So gay...push me shove you...No sweat our budge smuggler wearing Tony is there to fix it for you 

2 hours ago, tribalfusion001 said:

All waffle and hot air.

in your dreams

Looks like the EU is going to sideline Barnier, since after 4 years of "negotiating" he's as far away from a deal as ever.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/04/exclusive-michel-barnier-sidelined-eu-leaders-bid-break-brexit/

 

I certainly hope not. His intransigence almost guarantees we get a clean Brexit in December. I'd rather get a 100% break and agree a mutually beneficial trade deal over the next couple of years.

 

Also, I wouldn't be paying another penny of the "divorce bill" until the trade deal is signed. They've broken the terms of the withdrawal agreement by refusing to act in good faith and refusing to respect our new found sovereignty during the negotiations, consistently trying to blackmail us into following EU laws, rules and regulations and also to fall under the jurisdiction of the ECJ. So if they don't follow the terms, I don't see why the UK should.

 

Let's hope they keep Barnier until December. Then they can sack him for his spectacular failure to agree anything fair and sensible.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

So a lot of what we are trying to do this year is to get them to realise that we mean what we say

Really ?

 

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

I don't think that we are scared of this at all," Frost said

I do not think that the EU is so scared about a ' no deal ' scenario as well ...

3 hours ago, webfact said:

"That's what being an independent country is about, that's what the British people voted for and that's what will happen at the end of the year, come what may," Frost said.

Time will tell, last year was a fiasco.

2 hours ago, AussieBob18 said:

The UK is learning what has always been, and always will be, the problem with Socialism.

 

You can vote your way into Socialism, but you have to fight your way out.

 

That´s just a lot of rubbish in two sentences. A portion of all is needed for things to work, and that is socialism, liberalism, conservatism as well as capitalism and communism is needed. It´s just because all is needed in their different proportions, that there can be no solution that suits all. That due to that everyone want´s a bigger piece of the cake. Has always been, is today and will always be. 

 

Regarding what the UK is learning. They are simply learning to stand up and walk again, after being caught in the shelter of the European Union. It can be compared to a dog being kicked out by it´s owner and ends up on a street with the other strays. However, time always tells if that dog is going to be the ruler of his little kingdom or if he will obey others.

3 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Good on the UK. Be tough and protect our fisheries.

Should the UK go for no deal over an economic sector (fishing) that amounts to 0.12% of the overall economy, and less than 0.1% of employment? Even the UK leather industry is slightly larger and will be more affected by Brexit but no one cares.

 

The UK eats very little of what it catches, prefering the varieties of fish that are imported from the EU. Meanwhile the UK exports the vast majority of its catch to the EU.

 

This is a little like the way the UK is fighting tooth and nail over stilton cheese in the Japanese trade deal when the amount of cheese sold to the Japanese is tiny as they just do not eat it.

 

The EU amounts to approximately 50% of trade for the UK. A trade deal is crucial for many industries, especially with Covid being not so well managed.

Interesting as the Beeb headline this morning:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54051933

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the EU had learned not to take our word seriously

Nah, that came out because of johnson and his merry bunch of no dealers stabbed May in the back.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

"So a lot of what we are trying to do this year is to get them to realise that we mean what we say and they should take our position seriously," he was quoted as saying.

This coming from a member of a government that has spent the entire summer announcing u turn after u turn.

11 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

Should the UK go for no deal over an economic sector (fishing) that amounts to 0.12% of the overall economy, and less than 0.1% of employment? Even the UK leather industry is slightly larger and will be more affected by Brexit but no one cares.

 

The UK eats very little of what it catches, prefering the varieties of fish that are imported from the EU. Meanwhile the UK exports the vast majority of its catch to the EU.

 

This is a little like the way the UK is fighting tooth and nail over stilton cheese in the Japanese trade deal when the amount of cheese sold to the Japanese is tiny as they just do not eat it.

 

The EU amounts to approximately 50% of trade for the UK. A trade deal is crucial for many industries, especially with Covid being not so well managed.

The crooks, who have already made hundreds of millions through Brexit and stand to make much more, managed to fool a minority of mostly English people into voting for Brexit and they continue to keep the minority onside by whipping them into a frenzy about meaningless flags and symbols. Add to that the manufactured outrage over Last Night of the Proms, the massive hyping of a small number of illegals immigrants, it is all jingoism designed to keep the faithful minority in line. Fishing will not save the UK - it is well and truly beyond saving now. The sun will very soon set one last time on the United Kingdom. 

5 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

The crooks, who have already made hundreds of millions through Brexit and stand to make much more, managed to fool a minority of mostly English people into voting for Brexit and they continue to keep the minority onside by whipping them into a frenzy about meaningless flags and symbols. Add to that the manufactured outrage over Last Night of the Proms, the massive hyping of a small number of illegals immigrants, it is all jingoism designed to keep the faithful minority in line. Fishing will not save the UK - it is well and truly beyond saving now. The sun will very soon set one last time on the United Kingdom. 

The crook is the EU with its protectionist racket ! Don Corleon could never have matched its way of conducting its affairs 

Similar news mouse threatens lion. ????

 

 

8 minutes ago, pixelaoffy said:

The crook is the EU with its protectionist racket ! Don Corleon could never have matched its way of conducting its affairs 

Are you suggesting that the main backers of Vote Leave never made hundreds of millions on Brexit night and are not lined up to make even more as they crash the UK economy? Are you suggesting that our government, from the very top down, is not genuinely corrupt?

34 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

Should the UK go for no deal over an economic sector (fishing) that amounts to 0.12% of the overall economy, and less than 0.1% of employment? Even the UK leather industry is slightly larger and will be more affected by Brexit but no one cares.

What was the fishing sector worth before we joined the EU, is more to the point.

UK warns EU on Brexit: We won't blink first

EU replies to the UK: Bye bye

 

Seriously, just get over with it. Both sides are exhausted and fed up at this point.

 

Not good for both UK and 27 EU countries if no deal....we will know in 2021.

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

Interesting as the Beeb headline this morning:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54051933

Perfidious Albion.

7 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Perfidious Albion.

Pot. Kettle.

3 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Pot. Kettle.

Please explain.

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

Interesting as the Beeb headline this morning:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54051933

This surely means no deal is coming? 

 

"It would also override provisions on state aid - the financial assistance sometimes given by the government to companies - which has been one of the key sticking points in talks."

 

In this case, any deal negotiated would be voided by the removal of any agreement to maintain a key tenet of EU policy?

 

I am not sure I understand what the implications of removing the Irish Sea checks would be. If the UK did nothing on that front, are they intending to force the EU to put some sort of measures in place at the NI-I border, allowing the UK to claim that, in respect to the GFA, their hands are clean?

10 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

This surely means no deal is coming? 

 

"It would also override provisions on state aid - the financial assistance sometimes given by the government to companies - which has been one of the key sticking points in talks."

 

In this case, any deal negotiated would be voided by the removal of any agreement to maintain a key tenet of EU policy?

 

I am not sure I understand what the implications of removing the Irish Sea checks would be. If the UK did nothing on that front, are they intending to force the EU to put some sort of measures in place at the NI-I border, allowing the UK to claim that, in respect to the GFA, their hands are clean?

It seems that bill isn't finalized yet, so I suppose we will have to wait and see.