AS TALKS with the European Union continue, Wokingham MP Sir John Redwood has been explaining why he thinks the UK would be better offer leaving with No Deal.
Last weekend was meant to be the final deadline for talks to agree a new trade treaty as the country prepares for Brexit on December 31. However, they have been extended to allow more time to find a way forward.
Sir John, who is a long-time Eurosceptic and supporter of the UK’s fishing industry, has long called for the Government to talk up the advantages of leaving the EU.
In a blogpost published on Monday, he wrote that leaving without a deal would be a good outcome.
“It means we take back control of our borders, our money, our laws and our fish as promised by the Leave campaign. The deals on offer from the EU fell well short of improving on No Deal.” he wrote.
The EU, he felt, wanted to continue overfishing in UK waters, control UK law-making and using the European Court “in a clear violation of usual international practice where an impartial Arbitrator is used or the two sides need to argue it through to agreement”.
Sir John also wrote: “When Mrs May with senior civil servants foolishly sought to recreate many of the features of our EU membership under cover of a so-called comprehensive partnership the EU implied if we just wanted a Free Trade Agreement like Canada or Japan that would be easy to do.
“Once a new UK government offered to do just that the EU decided to impede and prevent it.”
He felt that No Deal was “an outcome which would give a good answer for the UK, achieving all our aims to be independent. I used to go on to say it would be very easy – if there was political will – to add a Free Trade Agreement on top of No deal, which would be beneficial to both sides.”
And he felt that the UK had been treated by the EU as if it were a “treasure island”.
“They have taken large payments from us in the form of our net contributions to the EU, and have run a huge surplus on goods and food trade through tariff-free entry,” he wrote.
Sir John also said that if the UK left under No Deal, it would have immediate benefits:
“We should be up and running with tax cuts – at last we can take VAT off all those green products from insulation to boiler controls the EU insists on, and lift tariffs from South African oranges and other tropical fruit and food that we cannot grow for ourselves,” he wrote.
Other benefits could include new deals with the United States to drop tariffs on Scotch Whisky exports, the opportunity to set up Freeports and Enterprize Zones, and encourage farmers to grow more salads, fruits and vegetables.
He added: “We should land more of our fish at home and add fish processing to create meals and products that we want to eat or which we can export.”
Sir John concluded: “If any given government lets us down we can sack them and get the answer we want from another. That is something we could never do as members of the EU. They gave us the laws and we did not control the government.”
