The EU takes a “theological” approach to negotiations with the U.K., has allowed “no room” for compromise, and must “get serious” now or risk the U.K. leaving without a deal, U.K. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Monday.
Addressing delegates at the Conservative party’s annual conference in Birmingham, Raab said the U.K. would have “no choice” but to leave without a deal — risking significant economic disruption — if the EU offers only a choice between an EEA-style relationship, or a deal that keeps Northern Ireland in a separate customs zone to the rest of the U.K.
Following Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s fiery speech on Sunday, in which he compared the EU to the Soviet Union, Raab struck a similarly combative tone, condemning the “jibes” EU leaders made against Prime Minister Theresa May at last month’s Salzburg summit, and bemoaning what he called “a starkly one-sided approach to negotiation” at the meeting.
“Some people say that no deal is unthinkable. Wrong,” he said. “What is unthinkable is that this government, or any British government, could be bullied by the threat of some kind of economic embargo, into signing a one-sided deal against our country’s interests.”
Raab offered a muted endorsement for May’s Chequers Brexit proposals, which are deeply unpopular with Tory party membership. He said the plan was not “perfect” nor “everything I wanted,” but insisted negotiations require compromise. He also attacked campaigners calling for a second referendum on EU membership, accusing them of “disdain for democracy” and warning that this would be a gift to “extremists” seeking to exploit people’s discontent.
The speech, which included a personal passage on Raab’s father, a Jewish refugee who fled Czechoslovakia as a boy before the Second World War, was warmly received in the conference hall.