A senior Conservative MEP has warned Britain that it will not have the same access to the Single Market it presently enjoys post-Brexit.
Ashley Fox MEP, who is the current leader of the Conservative group in the European Parliament, said it is inevitable the UK will fail to export goods and services to Europe, which he says is an enormous disadvantage of quitting the trading bloc. He told The Independent Brussels will do everything in their power to make life difficult for Britain during the Brexit negotiations.
This news comes as the Government's Brexit strategy is coming under fire from many of Theresa May's own MPs.
Tory MP John Redwood told LBC Radio that it is completely ridiculous to pay the EU £36 billion to leave the trading bloc and that the Government does not owe them a penny.
Over the weekend, former Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, attacked the Prime Minister's negotiating strategy, saying the Government is under-prepared in the likely event of reaching no deal with Brussels. He said the Department for Exiting the EU has completely wasted a year of preparing for a no deal scenario.
Advantages and disadvantages to Brexit
Despite this, Mr. Fox said he reckons Britain will reach a deal that will enable the Government to spend more of the money it sends to Brussels in other areas and one that allows Westminster to govern British borders.
But he said it would be much harder for the UK to access European markets.
He said that there are advantages and disadvantages to Brexit, but he says he sympathises with Brussels' position. Mr. Fox said he does not believe the EU will provide the UK with a trade deal that enables them to thrive outside of the trading bloc because it would spur more countries on to leave.
The MEP criticised the EU's inability to form trade deals with nations outside of Europe. He said Brussels' trade deal with Canada is a particularly good example of how long it takes for the trading bloc to be able to negotiate satisfactory trade agreements. The senior Tory said Brexit provides Britain with an opportunity to forge trade deals across the globe.
Take it or leave it
However, Mr. Redwood disagrees with the senior Tory, saying the EU is in a weaker position than the UK when it comes to trade discussions. He lambasted the suggested bill the Government needs to pay to leave. He said that for this reason, Brussels will eventually agree a trade deal with the Prime Minister.
Three senior Whitehall officials said they will provide the trading bloc with a take it or leave it deal over a £36 billion sum to leave the EU. They said it may be necessary to do this to end the current impasse in the negotiations.
The Tory MP said this was all part of the trading bloc's tactic to try and divide the Government over its Brexit strategy.
Brexit will never happen
Lord King, who became a crossbench peer for Lothbury since retiring as Governor of the Bank of England in 2013, said Mrs May's words 'no deal is better than a bad deal' ring hollow. He said regardless of whether people voted to leave the EU or not, the Government knew they would be entering some tricky negotiations and they should have prepared for the worst case scenario.
He added that failing to reach a deal was not the first preference of the Brexit team, but he warned that the EU will not take the Prime Minister's threat of walking away seriously if there are no contingency plans in place.
Brexit minister Steve Baker said his department were already preparing for the possible event of failing to reach a deal with Brussels.
Mrs May faces the likelihood of rebellion from Conservative and Labour MPs when Parliament returns from its summer break in September. Many of them are attempting to keep Britain in the European Economic Area until 2022 to avoid economic chaos.
Earlier last week, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said in an interview that Britain's EU exit will continue despite the many complications that have arisen recently. However, the Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, said he hopes Brexit will never happen.
Ashley Fox MEP campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU last year.
