EU trade deal after Brexit will be sorted if THIS happens, says ex-Tory Shadow Chancellor
BBC/GETTY Peter Lilley says a trade deal could be complete in 10 minutes
Speaking on the programme last night the Conservative politician insisted that a trade deal could be done very quickly if the EU was willing to co-operate with the UK. The UK has less than 18 months before it leaves the Brussels club to come up with an agreement but trade deals with the EU take a notoriously long time to complete, even as protracted as eight years in some cases. On the nightly news show, Mr Lilley said: “Because the Canadian agreement took eight years to negotiate doesn’t mean it would take a very long time for us to negotiate something similar.
“The Canadians started off with 10,000 different tariff lines, the EU had 15,000 different tariffs. “We start with zero tariffs. We want to end with zero tariffs. That takes 10 minutes.” Trade discussion between the two negotiating partners is due to begin at the start of the new year after phase one of the Brexit talks were concluded last week. The conclusion of phase one means that an agreement on citizens rights, the divorce bill, and the Ireland border have all been reached.
Brexit deal agreement in full: Read the report published Fri, December 8, 2017 Read the full 7,000-word agreement on the Brexit deal Play slideshow EPA 1 of 17 Here is the 15 page Brexit deal in full
It took the two sides far longer to come to an agreement on the terms of phase one than originally anticipated. Mr Lilley suggested the organisation’s willingness to punish the UK for Brexit could stop a “bespoke” trade deal from being reached. On the nightly news show Mr Lilley said: “If we don’t get a trade deal will be because the EU doesn’t want it and therefore the way they will engineer that is by saying ‘you can have free trade but on conditions that you won’t be able to accept like being subordinate to the European Court of Justice or paying money or accepting free movement.” Brexit Secretary David Davis has described his favoured deal from negotiations with Brussels to be based on the best of the deals already in place with other countries around the world.
On Sunday’s Andrew Marr show he said: “What we want is a bespoke outcome: We’ll probably start with the best of Canada, the best of Japan and the best of South Korea and then add to that the bits that are missing, which is services” He said: “Canada plus plus plus would be one way of putting it.” A large issue for voters in the 2016 referendum was immigration, and the desire to end free movement.
GETTY Theresa May was in Brussels on Friday after a deal on phase one was reached with the EU
BBC David Davis wants a 'bespoke' trade deal