Leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that leaving the European Union (EU) without a trade deal and moving to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules would “work well” for Britain and would mean Brexit would be achieved sooner.
The chairman of the influential parliamentary European Research Group (ERG), which is comprised of some 60 eurosceptic MPs, made the comments after a paper published by Economists for Free Trade said that the leaving the EU without a formal trade agreement and trading on WTO rules for a brief period until the country made its own global free trade deals would be “the UK’s next best step”.
The pro-Brexit group of economists had said in January that the EU would lose £500 billion in a no-deal Brexit whilst the UK would be better off by £641 billion. It would also save the country the £39 billion ‘divorce bill’ which the British would refuse to pay.
“Trading with the EU on WTO terms would work well for the UK and allows us to achieve Brexit sooner,” Mr Rees-Mogg told the Daily Express.
“It would save the country £39 billion which the EU desperately needs to balance its budget.
“So with no deal the EU would be the loser.”
Leaving the EU on March 29th, 2019, without a deal would mean no two-year ‘transition’ period, in which Britain would remain subject to Free Movement of People — and even allow it to be extended to Croatia — or submission to the bloc’s other rules.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said on Sunday that Britain leaving without a deal is currently the most likely outcome following the “intransigence” of the European Commission.
Dr Fox made the remarks after he had wrapped up an international tour where the U.S. and Japan expressed interest in signing free trade deals with the UK as soon as possible after Brexit.
In response, the former Brexit secretary — who resigned over Prime Minister Theresa May’s ultra-soft Brexit proposal — David Davis told The Telegraph: “I’ve always thought that no deal is better than a bad deal and while there will be border issues and so on it would give us more freedom.
“I’m still of the view that we have got two things on our side – we have got our own currency and we are masters of our own destiny in a way that EU member countries are not.
“This is a negotiation and it will go to the edge, but we must not panic about this. They have got lots to lose too, and specific countries and specific sectors have got large amounts to lose. As we get closer to the brink there will be internal pressure within the EU.”
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