GEORGE Osborne has said there should be no red lines in Brexit talks as he warned the vote to leave the European Union has made the UK poorer.
In his first major broadcast interview since being sacked by Theresa May, the former Chancellor warned Britain could face turbulent economic times because of the decision to leave the bloc.
“The pound fell sharply, we are not going to pretend any more that that doesn’t mean the pound in your pocket isn’t worth any less. Britain is poorer as a result,” he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr show.
“And all of the forecasts, including the Government’s own independent forecast, show the economy is going to slow next year.”
He said it was in Britain’s “national interest” to have the “closest possible relations” with its key European neighbours including the French and the Germans. And he also urged the Government not to discard existing free trade deals in Europe in the search for new ones elsewhere.
“You can’t say we are a beacon of free trade in the world and the main thing you achieve is a huge act of protectionism, the biggest in British industry,” he added saying a “hard-headed assessment” about issues such as whether to leave the customs union was needed.
He also urged the Prime Minister not to have “red lines” on issues like immigration saying it was important not to lose sight of the contribution immigrants make to the UK’s prosperity. “I would not go into this negotiation necessarily drawing red lines,” he said.
“I would say we are leaving the EU – that’s the only red line I would draw – let’s go in there and try and get the best deal for Britain.”
Concerns over immigration can be assuaged through better assimilation, he said, as he warned ministers not to “throw out the baby with the bathwater”. He warned jobs in the financial sector could move to New York if Britain gets its Brexit negotiations wrong.
The Government has agreed to publish a Brexit plan and let Parliament scrutinise it before Article 50 is triggered next March after it was threatened with a backbench rebellion over the issue.
Cabinet Brexiteers such as Liam Fox and David Davis want free movement of people excluded from a future deal with the EU, but European leaders insist there can be no “cherry picking” and any free trade arrangement with the remaining 27 members would have to accept the free movement of people, services and capital.
Also on the Marr show Fox, the International Trade Secretary, suggested the UK could remain a partial member of the EU Customs Union after Brexit.
He insisted Brexit was not like a “boiled egg” and there were more options than going for either a hard or soft withdrawal from the EU.
Within the customs union no levies are imposed on goods trading within it and members impose a common external tariff on all goods entering. Membership does not require signing up to free movement of people, budget contributions or being subject to the European Court of Justice.
Fox as well as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have previously suggested Britain should leave the customs union.
But yesterday Fox said: “I hear people talking about hard Brexit and soft Brexit as though it’s a boiled egg we are talking about, it’s a little more complex. So, Turkey, for example, is in part of the Customs Union, but not other parts.”
He underlined his view the UK must have total control of immigration from the EU. “I think the public have also made it very clear that they don’t want to see uncontrolled migration in the UK, and they don’t want to see us being governed by the European Court.
“We have to listen to what was not a consultation with the voters, but an instruction from the voters.”
Earlier, Nigel Farage claimed cabinet ministers have been banned from talking to him by Downing Street as he claimed he wants to be a “bridge” between Donald Trump’s US and the UK. The former Ukip leader was last month pictured grinning in a gold-plated lift alongside the president-elect at his New York skyscraper. Trump then sent a late-night tweet saying Farage would do a “great job” as Britain’s ambassador to the US – a move which prompted Downing Street to say “there was no vacancy”. Fox dismissed Farage’s claim ministers were told not to talk to him.
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