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EPA
The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator has said the government has no “fear” of moving away from negotiations without a trade deal ready to take effect in 2021.
David Frost told the Mail on Sunday that the UK would abandon the transition system – which sees it comply with many EU rules – in December “what could happen”.
On the contrary, he said Theresa May’s team “blinked and called her bluff”.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he was “concerned and disappointed” by the lack of concessions from the UK.
He was speaking after informal talks between the pair failed to find progress.
The eighth round of formal formal talks will begin on Tuesday.
The two sides want an agreement to be reached next month for it to be signed by politicians on both sides of the channel by the end of the transition period on December 31.
Differences remain on issues such as phishing and the level of taxpayer support UK businesses will be able to provide once they become independent nations.
Lord Frost told the newspaper: “All we are trying to do this year is to make them understand what we mean and that they should take our position seriously.”
‘Amazing muscle-flexing’
Image copyright pyrite
Reuters
Analysis by Chris Mason, political news correspondent for BBC News
The UK left the European Union in February but is in a transition period until the end of December, where very little has changed.
The time is right to negotiate a long-term arrangement between London and Brussels, and Lord Frost’s language is notorious.
“We’re not going to be a client state,” he says. “We’re not going to accept provisions that would shut us down the way the EU does.”
This is his first interview since the UK left the European Union, while Brussels officials are familiar with his arguments. One described the comment as “surprisingly muscle-flexing”.
Sources there say what they cannot accept is that the UK has the freedom to reduce business on the continent in its own single market.
The time for compromise is short. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it has no guarantee.
In an interview, Lord Frost said the country’s desire for control over money and affairs “should not be controversial”.
“This is going to be an independent country, the same British people voted for and the same will happen later this year,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re scared at all. We want to regain the power to control our borders and that’s the most important thing.”
He said the government was “fully prepared” to trade with the EU without formal deals.
In practice, this would mean taxes on exports and customs checks.
It is a scenario that volatile people on the road say that a “serious” interruption in chain supply would occur, border management systems are not yet in place and consignments continue to be cleared to move forward in the EU. Is.
Last week, the Road Hauleage Association said the UK was “sleeping in disaster”.
