NEW Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has dropped the biggest indication yet that Britain could be about to crash out of the EU with no deal.
The Tory minister, who heads to Brussels for more Brexit talks on Thursday, said that 80% of the withdrawal agreement had been settled.
But he also signalled that the UK could withhold its £39 billion divorce bill if it did not get a trade deal in return.
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He told the a Sunday newspaper: “Article 50 requires, as we negotiate the withdrawal agreement, that there’s a future framework for our new relationship going forward, so the two are linked.
“You can’t have one side fulfilling its side of the bargain and the other side not, or going slow, or failing to commit on its side.
“So, I think we do need to make sure that there’s some conditionality between the two.”
He added: “Certainly it needs to go into the arrangements we have at international level with our EU partners. We need to make it clear that the two are linked.”
Brussels have said there can be no trade agreement without a withdrawal agreement being signed off by both sides.
That withdrawal agreement was worked out in December, and Theresa May indicated then that the Government would pay the money to the EU. At the time Chancellor Philip Hammond said: “I find it inconceivable that we as a nation would be walking away from an obligation that we recognised as an obligation.
“That is not a credible scenario. That is not the kind of country we are. Frankly, it would not make us a credible partner for future international agreements.”
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Scottish Brexit minister Michael Russell said that Raab’s stance on EU payments was the second time this week the Government had “officially suggested it is considering abrogating agreements already made” after the Prime Minister appeared to roll back on promises about the backstop and Northern Ireland.
“This makes resolution of remaining issues much harder,” the SNP minister said.
Raab also criticised Brussels last week saying a no deal would mean no specific arrangements in place for UK citizens living on the continent, or for EU migrants in Britain after withdrawal.
He accused the Europeans of acting irresponsibly.
“We ought to be trying to reassure citizens on the continent and also here,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
“There is obviously an attempt to try and ramp up the pressure.”
Raab was also asked if there was any truth in reports the Government was planning to stockpile food for a no deal outcome.
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He told the BBC: “No. That kind of selective snippet that makes it into the media I think is – to the extent that the public pay attention to it – I think is unhelpful.”
Pressed on claims the M26 in Kent could partially become a lorry park, the Brexit Secretary said: “Well, no. But of course if we have no deal we will want to make sure that we’re prepared at the border with the knock-on effects that that would have if on the EU side they take the worst case scenario approach”.
Meanwhile, a new Yougov poll claims just 16% of voters think May is handling Brexit well, 34% think Boris Johnson would do a better job.
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