‘They’re TERRIFIED!' Brexiteer Christopher Chope says THIS is the EU's BIGGEST Brexit fear
BREXITEER Tory MP Christopher Chope said the European Union are “terrified” of losing trade with Britain and insisted Prime Minister Theresa May must “embrace” the EU’s weakness.
Sir Christopher warned the European Union has negotiated “hard and ruthlessly” in Brexit talks and, in return, Britain has been “naive”
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mr Chope said: “We have been very naive in our counter negotiating and seem to have forgotten that actually we are leaving and we sell less to them than they sell to us.
“That actually it is in their long-term best interest to have good working trade relationships in the future.”
The Tory MP for Christchurch said Britain “shouldn’t get hung up on inhibitions” because the EU has “always been a protectionist bloc”.
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90 percent of new world trade is going to come from outside the EU in the future
He added: “What they are terrified of is the United Kingdom freely going out to the rest of the world selling its goods, finding those new markets.
“We know that 90 percent of new world trade is going to come from outside the EU in the future.”
Mr Chope said Britain has got to “embrace” the EU’s worst fear. He said: “We have got to go for that, embrace it, instead of falling for the siren signs I think that from the EU saying ‘well, if you don’t do this then you don’t do that’.
“But what they really want is they want us to prevent ourselves from being free to compete with the rest of the world for the benefit of our own industry.”
The Prime Minister faced a marathon 12 Commons votes over her Brexit plans on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Government comfortably avoiding defeat in all of them.
In the final one, MPs voted by 321 to 40 to reject a string of Lords amendments over the post-Brexit transfer of former EU powers to the Scottish Government and other devolved assemblies.
But Mrs May’s proposed “backstop” customs system for Northern Ireland, which could see Britain remain in a “temporary customs arrangement” after the Brexit transition, was rejected by the EU’s Michel Barnier.
The Brexit negotiator demanded Britain “respect its own red lines” arguing that the proposed backstop would only be feasible for Northern Ireland and not the whole of the UK.
He warned the Mrs May: "Let me be very clear. Our backstop cannot be extended to the whole of the United Kingdom.
"It has been designed for the specific situation of Northern Ireland. The temporary backstop is not in line with what we want."
The backstop draft sets out a blueprint for a temporary customs partnership if the technology for a “frictionless border” is not prepared in time for the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020.
Mrs May confirmed that a temporary "backstop" arrangement to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic would be time-limited. But this was also rejected by Mr Barnier.