Brussels’ chief negotiator would be ‘happy’ for Britain to fall out of the EU on ‘hard Brexit’ terms to punish it for leaving, it was claimed last night.
A senior diplomatic source said former French minister Michel Barnier, who is handling the talks with Brexit Secretary David Davis, believes Britain must be seen to ‘pay a big price’ for quitting.
A new war of words erupted as former Tory Cabinet Minister Michael Forsyth accused Brussels of ‘Al Capone’ tactics over its demand for Britain to pay a massive divorce bill.
The diplomatic source said: ‘The idea of avenging Britain for damaging the EU by leaving resonates with Barnier.
Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured) would be ‘happy’ for Britain to fall out of the EU on ‘hard Brexit’ terms to punish it for leaving, it was claimed
‘He has an old-fashioned view of Anglo-French relations based on mutual suspicion and ancient rivalry.’
Barnier’s attitude was that you cannot leave the EU and damage it without paying a big price for doing so, and the big price could come in different forms.
The source added: ‘He thinks if negotiations result in a hard Brexit it will be worse for Britain than the EU, but so be it. He is not working for that, but if that is what Britain wants he would be happy with it.’
The news came after claims by Ministers that Barnier was softening his approach and that the main stumbling block to a Brexit deal was the hard line taken by Germany’s Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron.
But diplomats say Barnier is playing ‘cat and mouse’ with Davis, hinting at one moment that the EU may give ground on key issues like the divorce bill, reciprocal rights for EU and British citizens and the Irish border, while toughening his stance the next.
Theresa May is to attend an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, where her European counterparts are expected to refuse to take Brexit talks to the next stage on the grounds that insufficient progress has been made on the divorce bill.
Theresa May is to attend an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, where her European counterparts are expected to refuse to take Brexit talks to the next stage
A Cabinet source denied claims that a hard Brexit was now the most likely outcome.
‘The EU has too much to lose to go down that route and all you are seeing is the brinkmanship you would expect in a negotiation of this size,’ said a Cabinet Minister.
‘The final details of the divorce bill need not be agreed until later in the process.’
Thatcherite Lord Forsyth, who served in John Major’s Cabinet, blamed Brussels for the breakdown in negotiations. The EU was threatening Britain by saying ‘unless you give us a very large sum of money which we won’t be able to justify, we won’t let you continue to do business with us,’ he said. ‘This is the politics of Al Capone. This is extortion.’
Lord Forsyth’s provocative comments were echoed by former Brexit Minister David Jones, who said Mrs May should be ready to threaten to suspend Brexit talks at this week’s summit.
‘If EU leaders try to fob her off by saying they won’t start real trade talks until the next summit in December, she should pull the plug,’ he said.
Mrs May should make it clear the UK was fully prepared to leave the EU without a deal. ‘That way, they will finally realise we are serious about walking away if we have to.’
However, Hillary Clinton yesterday warned that failing to secure a Brexit deal would put Britain at a ‘very big disadvantage’. The former US presidential challenger, who received an honorary doctorate at Swansea University yesterday, said a no-deal scenario would put pressure on businesses and the disruption could be ‘quite serious’.
Nor should Britain pin its hopes on a US deal because Donald Trump ‘doesn’t believe in trade’.
Her comments were reinforced by Sir Martin Donnelly, who was chief mandarin in arch-Brexiteer Liam Fox’s International Trade department until recently.
Theresa May is being urged to give Boris Johnson new Brexit powers to soften the blow of moving him from the Foreign Office
Failure to achieve a Brexit deal could have a ‘chilling’ effect on investment in the UK and create ‘huge uncertainty’ for business, he warned. He was ‘worried’ about the potential damage to UK trade from leaving the single market and suggested MPs could vote to keep the UK in the trading bloc after Britain leaves.
Sir Martin, who quit his role as permanent secretary earlier this year, also warned that severing ties with the European Court of Justice would have a ‘major and lasting negative effect’ on jobs and investment.
‘If people aren’t sure what the regime is going to be with Europe, then not only will it have a chilling effect on investment here, it makes it more difficult to do good trade deals around the world,’ he said.
Last night, a spokesman for Barnier denied he would be happy to see Britain punished for Brexit, pointing out that the EU chief negotiator had himself said he had ‘the greatest admiration for the UK’.