The Prime Minister is to cut short her holiday to meet the French President and plead with him to back her Chequers Brexit plan, amid warnings the French will play tough and try to profit from the UK’s exit from the bloc.
“At least with the French you know what their game is with Brexit. It’s to make a quick buck,” a British official told The Telegraph in relation to Theresa May’s meeting with Emmanuel Macron.
The meeting will take place on Friday, and Mrs May is expected to ask the President to drop his opposition to extensive security cooperation between the UK and European Union (EU) after Brexit and a comprehensive trade deal on financial services for the City of London.
The French have already resisted the UK’s desire to remain part of the Galileo space satellite programme, which could benefit the French defence industry, and want to see financial services and jobs leave London for Paris.
In relation to the Chequers plan, France is seen by diplomats as “the toughest nut to crack” in persuading the EU to start making concessions and accept Mrs May’s vision for Brexit.
The plan, however, already proposes keeping the UK tied to all EU rules on goods, and many in the Tory Party see it as a red line rather than a flexible starting point for talks and more British concessions.
“We need to crack on [in the talks]. France and Germany have always been important in the Brexit negotiations,” the source told The Telegraph.
The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is currently in France for meetings with his counterpart there, and said on Tuesday that the UK will not “blink” during negotiations and the EU needs to engage with Mrs May’s Chequers plan.
He also insisted the likelihood of the UK walking away from the bloc without a trade deal is “increasing” and there is a “real chance” of a “No Deal” Brexit.
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