Brexit Negotiations and No Deal Contingency Planning

David Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

In this negotiation, there are efforts—on both sides, in fairness: the EU side and UK side—to apply pressure. Honestly, I would not be listening to or referring to warnings or forecasts made by the other side in this negotiation; I would be showing a bit of mettle and standing up for this country.

[Mr David Jones (Clwyd West) (Con)]

On Sunday, the Prime Minister wrote that she would

“not be pushed into accepting compromises on the Chequers proposals that are not in our national interest”.

Are we to infer from that that the Government are prepared to consider compromise on the Chequers proposals? If so, what sort of proposals does my right hon. Friend consider would be in the national interest?

[Dominic Raab]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on all the hard work that he has done to get us to this point, both ministerially and in the House, and on the no deal preparation. He is perhaps over-reading the Prime Minister’s words. We are very clear that we have set out a strong proposal that deals with all the outstanding issues on frictionless trade, but allows us to have an independent trade policy. It is good for the United Kingdom in those respects, but also good for the EU. We will be pressing for a resolution and swift conclusion of the negotiations in the coming months, around those proposals.