Theresa May was accused last night of trying to blackmail the EU over a Brexit trade deal.
In a show of steel that angered Brussels, the Prime Minister suggested she could withdraw co-operation on security unless a fair agreement was struck.
She used her Article 50 letter, which launches a two-year divorce process, to warn the EU against trying to damage Britain at such a dangerous time. The 28-state bloc leans heavily on UK intelligence and policing expertise.
Mrs May’s warning was described as tantamount to blackmail by Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator.
EU leaders quickly said they would block Mrs May’s demand for a trade deal to be negotiated alongside the terms of Britain’s departure.
‘The negotiations must first clarify how we will disentangle our interlinked relationship,’ said German chancellor Angela Merkel.
‘Only when this question is dealt with can we, hopefully soon after, begin talking about our future relationship.’
French president Francois Hollande said Brexit ‘would be painful for the British’. The security row came as:
- Mrs May said Brexit was ‘a historic moment with no turning back’;
- Downing Street said the UK would leave the EU at midnight on March 29, 2019;
- Jeremy Corbyn warned Labour would vote against a bad Brexit deal;
- The SNP said Scottish independence was ‘inevitable’ unless it could stay in the single market;
- The PM floated the idea of transitional period to phase in immigration and customs changes.
During a cagey interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, the Prime Minister refused to rule out making a divorce payment to the EU.
She said the UK would stop making large payments to Brussels but told the BBC: ‘We’re a law-abiding nation, we will meet obligations that we have.’
Some ministers have warned the PM that Tory MPs would not accept a bill of more than £3billion. EU leaders have suggested a figure closer to £50billion.
In a Commons performance lasting more than three hours and 20 minutes, the Prime Minister fielded questions from MPs and set out her vision for Brexit.
She pledged to forge a ‘stronger, fairer, more united’ country, take back control of the UK’s borders and strike an early agreement to guarantee the rights of 3.2million EU citizens living in this country and 1.2million British citizens in Europe. ‘I choose to believe in Britain and that our best days are ahead,’ she said.
The Prime Minister acknowledged there would be consequences for the UK in leaving the EU, with exporters forced to abide by rules that Britain no longer had a say in deciding. Downing Street denied that Mrs May’s decision to explicitly raise the security issues was a threat, saying it was a ‘statement of fact’ that EU membership is the basis for substantial co-operation on security.
Mrs May’s tough stance on security could see the UK withdraw co-operation on issues such as the sharing of DNA, vehicle registration and fingerprints, as well as the UK’s involvement in the cross-border Europol agency and the European Arrest Warrant.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron described Mrs May’s warning as a ‘blatant threat’, adding: ‘Security cooperation has been lumped together with trade – it’s utterly scandalous.’
Mr Verhofstadt said: ‘Our security is far too important to start bargaining it against an economic agreement. I tried to be a gentleman towards a lady [Mrs May] so I didn’t even use or think about the use of the word blackmail.’
Mrs May defended her decision to switch from supporting Remain in the referendum to now championing Brexit, saying: ‘Well, I did campaign for Remain and I did vote to remain.
‘But I also said that I didn’t think the sky would fall in if we left the European Union, and it hasn’t.’
Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine described it as a ‘very sad day’ and predicted pro-Remain forces could yet block Brexit if Mrs May failed to secure a good deal.
Daily Mail online
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