Johnson: I’d rather accept tariffs than obey EU rules

Boris Johnson will enter the next phase of Brexit by warning the EU he isn’t afraid to walk away from talks as tensions escalate.

Boris Johnson chairs a cabinet meeting in Sunderland after Britain left the EU. Picture: Getty Images.

Boris Johnson will enter the next phase of Brexit by warning the European Union that he is not afraid to walk away from talks as tensions escalate between London and Brussels.

The prime minister will say on Monday that he would rather accept tariffs than European law and that Britain has “made our choice” in refusing to follow EU regulations.

Setting out his objectives on trade, Mr Johnson will accept that he has traded full access to the single market in order for Britain to reclaim full control of its laws. He will urge European leaders to honour what he regards as their side of the bargain.

Downing Street is prepared to fall back on an “Australian” version of no deal, and the prime minister will say “there is no need for a free-trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules”.

The scene is set for a bitter dispute with Brussels about the concessions Britain must make in pursuit of a “Canada-style” deal – an arrangement in which 98 per cent of tariffs between Ottawa and the EU were removed.

London and Brussels are already in dispute over the interpretation of commitments to a “level playing field” in a future deal. Downing Street has let it be known that it is “privately infuriated” that the EU is not willing to offer the same terms to Britain as Canada, accusing Brussels of going back on its word.

European leaders responded by claiming that they had always been clear that “robust” guarantees on regulations and subsidies to business were a precondition of such deal.

“There is no need for a free-trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment or anything similar any more than the EU should be obliged to accept UK rules,” Mr Johnson will say in a speech to business leaders in London.

“The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas – better, in many respects, than those of the EU – without the compulsion of a treaty and it is vital to stress this now.”

Downing Street is frustrated that Brussels wants Britain to agree to follow specific EU laws – while Canada made only a broad commitment to not to cut workers’ rights in an effort to attract investment. “We have often been told that we must choose between full access to the EU market, along with accepting its rules and courts on the Norway model, or an ambitious free trade agreement, which opens up markets and avoids the full panoply of EU regulation, on the example of Canada,” Mr Johnson will say.

“We have made our choice: we want a free-trade agreement, similar to Canada’s, but in the very unlikely event that we do not succeed then our trade will have to be based on our existing withdrawal agreement with the EU.”

Brussels says that, given Britain’s size and location, more specific commitments than those made by Canada will be demanded. Mr Johnson will say that this is not on the table and, if Brussels insists on it, Britain will fall back on a much looser arrangement.

“The question is whether we agree a trading relationship with the EU comparable to Canada’s or more like Australia’s,” he will say. “In either case, I have no doubt that Britain will prosper.”

Although Mr Johnson will say that “the choice is emphatically not ‘deal or no-deal’ ”, Australia does not have a free-trade agreement and its partnership arrangement with the EU involves widespread tariffs on goods and agricultural products.

Britain will seek deals with New Zealand, Australia and Japan alongside EU negotiations, Mr Johnson will say as he demands that Brussels treats Britain as “equals”. UK representatives to international institutions will sit separately and no longer follow European direction, he will say. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, set the confrontational tone yesterday (Sunday) when he said that agreeing to align with EU rules would “defeat the point of Brexit”.

He said that Britain was “entering these negotiations with a spirit of goodwill”, but stated bluntly: “Legislative alignment just ain’t happening and we’d better be clear about that from the outset because we don’t want to waste anyone’s time.”

Mr Raab accused the EU of trying to “shift the goalposts” as he expressed frustration about EU conditions for a Canada-style deal. “We obviously would expect commitments on both sides to be lived up to,” he told the BBC. “We just need to be very clear that the Canada-style agreement doesn’t involve regulatory alignment.”

The Times