Brexit: negotiator David Frost says the UK is not afraid to walk away

The UK’s top Brexit negotiator has said the government is “not afraid” to walk away from the talks without a trade deal ready to go into effect in 2021.

David Frost told the Mail on Sunday that the UK would leave the transitional deal, which he sees as following many EU rules, “whatever happens” in December.

Instead, he said Theresa May’s team had “blinked and called her bluff.”

EU negotiator Michel Barnier has said he is “concerned and disappointed” by the UK’s lack of concessions.

He was speaking after informal conversations between the couple failed to find a breakthrough.

An eighth round of formal negotiations begins on Tuesday.

Both sides want an agreement to be reached next month so that politicians on both sides of the English Channel will sign it before the transition period ends on December 31.

Differences remain on issues such as fisheries and the level of taxpayer support that the UK will be able to provide to businesses once it is an independent nation.

Lord Frost told the newspaper: “Much of what we are trying to do this year is make them realize that what we say is serious and that they must take our position seriously.”

‘Unsurprising muscle flexion’

Analysis by Chris Mason, Political Correspondent, BBC News

The UK left the European Union in February, but is in a transitional period until the end of December, where very little has actually changed.

The time left to negotiate a long-term agreement between London and Brussels is tight, and Lord Frost’s language is defiant.

“We are not going to be a client state,” he says. “We are not going to accept provisions that lock us into the way the EU does things.”

While this is his first interview since the UK left the EU, officials in Brussels are familiar with his arguments. One described the comments as “an unsurprising muscle flex.”

Sources say what they cannot accept is that the UK has the freedom to undermine the continent’s businesses in its own single market.

The time for commitment is running out. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but there is no guarantee that it will.

In the interview, Lord Frost said that wanting to control the country’s money and affairs “should not be controversial.”

“That is what being an independent country is all about, that is what the British people voted for and that is what will happen at the end of the year,” he said.

“I don’t think we are scared at all. We want to regain the powers to control our borders and that is the most important thing.”

The government was “completely ready” to trade with the EU without a formal agreement, he said.

In practice, this would mean export taxes and customs controls.

It is a scenario that, according to road carriers, would cause a “serious” disruption to supply chains, as border management systems are not yet in place to ensure shipments are cleared to proceed to the EU.

Last week, the Road Transport Association said the UK was “sleepwalking towards disaster”.