'Don't bully us', Britain takes new combative tone to Brexit talks

[October 01, 2018]  By Elizabeth Piper

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Britain cannot be bullied, Brexit minister Dominic Raab said on Monday, sharpening the government's criticism of the European Union for taunting Prime Minister Theresa May and souring difficult Brexit talks.

May's ministers have come out one by one at their party's annual conference in the city of Birmingham to warn the EU that they will embrace leaving without a deal if the bloc fails to show "respect" in the talks to end Britain's membership.

Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU in the country's biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, May faces growing criticism over her plans to leave not only in her governing party but also in Brussels.

Party unity is on ministers' minds, encouraging the faithful to direct their anger at the EU rather than at their prime minister, who some eurosceptic campaigners accuse of leading Britain towards a "Brexit in name only".

Other ministers, such as finance minister Philip Hammond, have moved to point out that leaving without a deal could hurt Britain's economy, the world's fifth largest.

Raab said he had called on the EU to match the "ambition and pragmatism" Britain had put forward with May's Chequers proposals, named after her country residence where an agreement with her ministers was hashed out in July.

"Unfortunately, that wasn't on display in Salzburg," he said, describing a summit last month in the Austrian city where EU leaders rejected parts of the Chequers plan.

"Our prime minister has been constructive and respectful. In return we heard jibes from senior leaders and we saw a starkly one-sided approach to negotiation."

"What is unthinkable is that this government, or any British government, could be bullied by the threat of some kind of economic embargo, into signing a one-sided deal against our country's interests," Raab said.

Instead of the much-hoped-for staging post, the Salzburg summit has become a byword for a sharp deterioration in the atmosphere of the talks, when British government officials felt May was ambushed by the other EU leaders over Brexit.

A tweet by European Council President Donald Tusk showing him offering May a selection of cakes with the comment: "A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries" "certainly had an impact", one official said.

Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab delivers his keynote address to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

"GET SERIOUS"

With no divorce deal and a standoff over the shape of any future relationship, the possibility of a "no deal Brexit" has increased, with some businesses preparing for what they see as a worst case scenario.

But one source close to the government said there was now a sense that the EU had realized that the tone set in Salzburg was "perhaps a bit off" and, behind the scenes, conservations between the two sides were more constructive.

Hammond, for one, was keen to set a more positive tone.

"The mood is undoubtedly that people want to do a deal with the UK," he told BBC TV.

"Clearly there has been a hit to the economy through the uncertainty the Brexit process has caused. Many businesses are sitting on their hands frankly waiting to see what the outcome of this negotiation is before confirming investment plans."

But his softer line won less support at the conference than those adopted by Raab, trade minister Liam Fox and foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, who on Sunday compared the EU with the Soviet Union which could turn into a prison from which not only Britain would want to escape.

It was Raab, winning a standing ovation for his story about his father's journey from then Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion, who summed up Britain's new combative stance.

"The EU's theological approach allows no room for serious compromise," he said. "If the EU want a deal, they need to get serious."

(Additional reporting by William James, Kylie MacLellan, Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge, writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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