Sir David Davis writes ‘Britain has nothing to fear with a No Deal Brexit — we must stand our ground’

As published in The Sun:

Throughout the entire Brexit negotiation Britain has tried to behave in a civilised manner so as to avoid an acrimonious break-up.

That is not true of the European Union — on the contrary it has behaved unreasonably from the beginning.

The EU demands we agree not to subsidise industry, but wants to excuse itself from the same thing.

It makes demands on fishing that are wholly unreasonable.

It makes demands that we effectively stay under its control.

It makes threats it is going to have punitive tariffs, which are illegal under the World Trade Organisation.

So what should be guiding the British government’s approach as it enters the final day of talks?

Number one — stay calm.

This has been going on for a long time — it’s just getting more intense now.

Number two — if possible, get a deal.

Number three — remember the referendum was about controlling our own country, not about economics.

We therefore must not give up any control on these key issues.

If we can’t achieve that, so be it.

We will have No Deal and should not be afraid of that.

We’ve heard all sorts of bluster.

But the truth is that from January 1 we should be very rapidly seeking deals with Australia, New Zealand — all of our old friends and ask them: “Can you supply the things that France supplies?”

We’ll suddenly find cheaper and better wine, cheeses and other products.

And if we go global, we can repeat that for every country in Europe.

We should be ready to do that if need be — and we should make it plain that we are.

We should also be robust in our response if the EU tries to tell us we cannot subsidise our businesses.

Britain very rarely subsidises business, apart from in unusual circumstances such as Covid.

But if we find businesses being penalised by continental governments we should support them.

So we should be polite but robust.

We should go the extra mile to get the deal.

But frankly, if all we get is acrimony then we should be willing to go it alone.

Lord Frost has played a blinder.

He has been more willing than others to stand his ground.

We should back him and stand our ground right to the last day.