Good deal for UK could ‘destroy the EU’ claim

BRUSSELS must not give Britain too good a deal or the European Union would go ‘down the drain’, Germany’s vice-chancellor said yesterday.

Economy minister Sigmar Gabriel added the UK must not be allowed to keep ‘the nice things’ from its relationship with the EU.

The comments are believed to be a reference to access to the single market, which some ministers, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, believe is essential for Britain’s financial services sector.

Mr Gabriel said: ‘Brexit is bad but it won’t hurt us as much economically as some fear – it’s more of a psychological problem and it’s a huge problem politically.

‘If we organise Brexit in the wrong way, then we’ll be in deep trouble so now we need to make sure we don’t allow Britain to keep the nice things, so to speak, related to Europe while taking no responsibility.’ He also By Chief Political Correspondent revealed that talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the US have ‘de facto failed’.

Eurosceptic MEP Dan Hannan said last night the failure showed how hopeless the EU was at doing trade deals and how Britain could fare better striking its own with the US.

He added: ‘I’ll offer a pound to a euro that there will be a US-UK free trade agreement in place long before there is a US-EU agreement – if, indeed, that happens at all.

‘What’s more, it’ll be a properly liberal agreement, based on free competition and maximum advantage to the consumer rather than on corporatism and the protection of vested interests.’

He said leaving the EU would not just help Britain but ‘might revitalise free trade worldwide’.