Boris Johnson warns UK cannot become 'vassal state' of EU

Britain must strike a strong trade deal with the European Union after Brexit and avoid becoming a subordinate state of the bloc, Boris Johnson said.

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تاریخ: ۲۶ آذر ۱۳۹۶ - ۰۸:۵۰

Failure to ditch EU law would make the United Kingdom a "vassal state," the foreign secretary told the Sunday Times newspaper.

Prime Minister Theresa May this week secured an agreement with the EU to move Brexit talks on to trade and a transition pact. But she must now unite her deeply divided cabinet over what trade deal Britain actually wants.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mrs May hit out at anti-Brexit campaigners who "want to talk Britain down".

She said: "Amid all the noise, we are getting on with the job.

"In the face of those who want to talk Britain down, we are securing the best and most ambitious Brexit deal for our whole United Kingdom.

"And my message today is very clear: we will not be derailed from this fundamental duty to deliver the democratic will of the British people."
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In the interview, Mr Johnson said he would advance the case for a "liberal Brexit" in a new intervention in the debate this week in which he would play up the advantages of leaving the EU.

Mr Johnson set out his vision for a UK-EU trade deal that would "maximise the benefits of Brexit" by allowing Britain the freedom to diverge from Brussels' laws.

He called for a deal that "gives us that important freedom to decide our own regulatory framework, our own laws and do things in a distinctive way".

Chancellor Philip Hammond said a transition deal would "replicate the status quo" and that, although "technically" the UK would not be in the customs union or single market, it would effectively keep the same rules during an implementation period until the terms of a new deal can be put in place.

But he faced a backlash from prominent Brexiteers for his comments - even though the Prime Minister has already suggested in her Florence speech that the "framework" for the implementation period "would be the existing structure of EU rules and regulations".

Former Brexit minister David Jones condemned the Chancellor, claiming he "appears only too ready to do Brussels' bidding" by signalling acceptance of the EU's position.

Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith accused Mr Hammond of "undermining" Mrs May, while prominent backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said the EU's position would reduce the UK to the status of a "colony".