Tory Brexiteer Lord Lawson Tells Theresa May To Get Off Her ‘Knees’ And Stop ‘Begging’ Brussels For A Good Deal<\/b>
\nTory tensions over Brexit have boiled over in spectacular fashion after former Chancellor Nigel Lawson told Theresa May to get off her \u201cknees\u201d and stop \u201cbegging\u201d Brussels for a good deal.<\/p>\n
The Conservative peer declared that Margaret Thatcher would have been appalled that the UK was \u201cin a humiliating state of cringe\u201d towards the EU.<\/p>\n
Just hours after May boasted in the Commons of her breakthrough in Brussels negotiations, Lord Lawson said she had \u201clost her nerve\u201d in agreeing to pay \u00a339bn in return for a future trade deal with the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n
His withering remarks came as:<\/p>\n
In the Commons, most leading Brexiteer MPs appeared to be reassured by May that she had not committed the Government to a \u2018soft Brexit\u2019.<\/p>\n
Senior figures such as Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood appeared relaxed despite the PM signing a provisional deal that could see the UK achieve \u201cfull alignment\u201d with EU rules even after 2019.<\/p>\n
But Lord Lawson, delivering the fourth annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture in London\u2019s Carlton Club, was scathing about the Government\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find ourselves today quite unnecessarily as a supplicant, in a humiliating state of cringe, begging for what is both unnecessary and unattainable \u2013 a posture which would have been anathema to Margaret Thatcher,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time has come to call<\/a> an end to this demeaning process. We must get up off our knees. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawson, who was Thatcher\u2019s Chancellor and wants a \u2018no deal Brexit\u2019 to allow the UK maximum freedom to trade on World Trade Organisation rules, said that the late Prime Minister would have been \u201cdelighted\u201d by the Brexit referendum result last year.<\/p>\n Yet he added that under Theresa May \u201cwe have now allowed ourselves to become bogged down in the fruitless quest for a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, wasting precious time and making concession after concession to try and achieve one\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is fruitless essentially because the EU is determined that we should not get anything that can be presented as a good deal, as that might, either now or in the future, encourage other members to follow suit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe provisional agreement that Mrs May secured last Friday is just about acceptable so far as it goes. But let us be quite clear. The UK\u2019s regulatory autonomy, post-Brexit, must be unfettered. It is an essential attribute of national sovereignty, which is what Brexit is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawson praised May\u2019s Lancaster House speech earlier this year when she said \u2018no deal is better than a bad deal\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYet she appears to have lost her nerve, and \u2013 no doubt encouraged by the bureaucracy, who are horrified by the idea of Brexit \u2013 has allowed herself to be manoeuvred into imagining that no trade deal would be a disaster. This is manifest nonsense. It is also the cause of most of her current difficulties.\u201d<\/p>\n For good measure, Lawson added a jibe about May\u2019s plans to intervene in energy markets and business to correct \u2018market failure\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cMargaret Thatcher would have been appalled by the explicit rejection of Thatcherite economics to which the present Government appears committed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And backbencher Philip Davies, who was highly critical of May at a private meeting last week of the \u201992 Group\u2019 of fellow Thatcherite MPs, ridiculed the PM to her face in the Commons<\/p>\n \u201cThe Prime Minister said that there has been give and take in these negotiations. Of course she is absolutely right: we are giving the EU tens of billions of pounds, and the EU is taking them.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said that the money will not be paid unless there is a final agreement. By definition, that must mean that we are not legally obliged to make these payments because otherwise that option would not be available to us.<\/p>\n \u201cWill she explain why she is paying tens of billions of pounds that are not legally due to the European Union when she is continuing a policy of austerity at home? Many of my constituents simply do not understand where all this extra money is coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier, May admitted for the first time that the Brexit \u2018divorce bill\u2019 would amount to \u00a339bn in payments to the EU, but tried to calm her MPs by stressing that it was dependent on a future trade deal.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t agree that partnership, then this offer is off the table,\u201d she said during a 105-minute session.<\/p>\n For his part, Corbyn said the Government\u2019s current date of March 29, 2019 was \u201cunnecessary\u201d because a fixed deadline restricted the UK\u2019s freedom to negotiate.<\/p>\n Corbyn\u2019s words, his strongest on the subject yet, follow his party\u2019s increasing backing for a \u2018soft Brexit\u2019 that would keep much EU migration and close ties to the single market.<\/p>\n May delighted her Brexiteer ministers and MPs last month by committing to writing the exact \u2018Exit Day\u2019 into the EU (Withdrawal) Bill currently going through Parliament.<\/p>\n Britain is on course to leave the EU two years after the PM triggered the formal Article 50 process in March this year.<\/p>\n But speaking in the Commons during the Prime Minister\u2019s statement on her \u2018progress report\u2019 on Brexit talks, Corbyn said her tight deadline gave Brussels all the power in the talks.<\/p>\n He urged May to \u201cconsider dropping the unnecessary exit date deadline of the 29 March, 2019 from the EU Withdrawal Bill\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m sure, the whole House and probably the whole country would rather get the best possible deal a little bit later if that meant a better deal for people\u2019s jobs and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n May hit back that Corbyn was now making clear that Labour could not be relied on to deliver Brexit in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started off by saying that he wanted to uphold the referendum and then later in his comments he said he didn\u2019t want to accept the leave date of 29 March, 2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re leaving the European Union on that date, that is what the British people voted for and that is what this government is going to out in place.\u201d<\/p>\n Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: \u201cWe now know from the leader of the Opposition that Labour wants to stay in indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer signalled this weekend that he wanted \u201ceasy\u201d migration with the EU even after the UK quits the 28-nation union.<\/p>\n And Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told a press conference on Monday that Labour wanted to be part of \u2018a reformed single market\u2019, rather than remain a full member of the EU tariff-free trade system.<\/p>\n \u201cRemaining in the single market would not respect the referendum result. But we\u2019ve been using the phraseology \u2018a single market\u2019, not \u2018the single market\u2019 and \u2018a customs union\u2019 and not \u2018the customs union\u2019. Tory Brexiteer Lord Lawson Tells Theresa May To Get Off Her ‘Knees’ And Stop ‘Begging’ Brussels For A Good Deal Tory tensions over Brexit have boiled over in spectacular fashion after former Chancellor Nigel Lawson told Theresa May to get off her \u201cknees\u201d and stop \u201cbegging\u201d Brussels for a good deal. The Conservative peer declared … Continue reading Tory Brexiteer Lord Lawson Tells Theresa May To Get Off Her ‘Knees’ And Stop ‘Begging’ Brussels For A Good Deal<\/span>
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