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The Sunday Express learned that the government is looking for options on how to respond if Brussels goes ahead with threats made this week to punish Britain for its plans to overturn the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. A Whitehall source has confirmed that “a trade war is a concern” and that the government is “considering all options”, but only if the EU initiates hostilities.
This could mean that German automakers like BMW and Mercedes, Italian fashion houses like Gucci, French wine including champagne, and Irish beef could have barred access to the British market.
The dispute concerns the internal market bill that the government presents to Parliament this week and that would alter the withdrawal agreement.
It addresses the part of the withdrawal agreement aimed at avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
If the bill were to become law, it would give ministers the power to modify rules on the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland that would go into effect if the UK and the EU are unable to reach a trade agreement. .
The government says this means protecting the “integrity” of the UK, but the EU has threatened legal action.
The move comes as the Sunday Express learned that senior Conservative MPs are preparing to join other leading Brexiteers in demanding that the controversial Withdrawal Agreement be “broken” entirely.
Boris Johnson’s plan to target European brands if the EU refuses to back down (Image: Getty)
German automakers could have hampered UK market access (Image: Getty)
Members of the European Research Group and members of the Brexit Party are expected to ask the Prime Minister to repeal the agreement and remove it from the law.
It is also understood that the ERG has allies in the cabinet for the decision to get rid of the WA with patience wearing thin with Brussels after four years of negotiations.
A senior conservative behind the plan said: “The problem is that we have seen that the EU can misuse the Withdrawal Agreement and, at this time, it remains in place if we walk away from the trade talks.”
The revelation about preparations for a possible trade war comes after a week in which Brussels issued open threats to Britain over Boris Johnson’s plans to introduce the Internal Market Bill in Parliament.
This followed the threat behind the doors of Michel Barnier’s negotiating team to “cut off the food supply to Northern Ireland” using the Withdrawal Agreement signed in January unless the UK signed up to their demands to follow the regulations of the EU and be allowed access to fishing waters.
With the talks on the brink of collapse, it is understood that senior figures in the Johnson administration have calculated that a tariff war will be far more damaging for the EU than for Britain.
EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier (Image: Getty)
The Sunday Express pointed to a report published by the European Parliament in 2017 that highlighted an economic catastrophe for the EU agricultural sector.
He noted: “A return to WTO rules would mean significantly less agri-food trade between the EU and the UK in both directions (around minus 62 per cent). Some EU exports collapse almost completely, such as rice, white meat, sugar, dairy and red meat (more than 90 percent in trade) ”.
The hardest hit would be farmers in Ireland, the Netherlands and France, according to the report, but added: “Brexit could be an opportunity for the UK agri-food sectors as a whole.”
According to 2018 figures, more than half of Ireland’s beef is sold to Great Britain and has an annual value of more than £ 1 billion to the Irish economy.
Meanwhile, Britain is the second-largest import market for French wine in a market valued at 1.3 billion pounds and is the largest importer of champagne with around 27 million bottles a year.
The largest import from the EU to the UK is motor vehicles worth £ 48.5 billion in 2018 (18.2% of EU imports), with German carmakers including BMW and Mercedes being. the most vulnerable.
Britain is the second largest French wine import market in a market valued at 1.3 billion pounds. (Image: Getty)
Also among the EU’s top 10 exports to Britain are clothing and accessories, mainly luxury brands that were worth £ 7.1 billion in 2018, 2.7 percent of the market.
The quickly concluded trade deal with Japan is understood to have given Britain “renewed confidence” because any additional expenses caused by tariffs on EU products will be offset by goods from countries with which the UK has trade agreements in the rest of the world. world.
Agreements with the US, Australia and New Zealand have made significant progress.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said in the Commons last week that the bill would violate international law in a “specific and limited way.”
But Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove told Times Radio yesterday that Britain would not violate international law.
He said: “The legal position was outlined by the attorney general this week and the position we have taken is fully consistent with the rule of law. It is important to consider what we are looking to do.
“It comes down to some simple principles, but what is important to recognize in general is that we are not trying to move away from the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, nor are we trying to move away from the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. We are spending hundreds and millions of pounds implementing the Northern Ireland protocol. “
Meanwhile, sources close to Lord Frost’s UK negotiating team said they are “baffled” by the EU’s double standards when it comes to demands from Britain and its claims that the UK “is not participating in all. the areas”.
A source said: “We have spoken with the EU, for more than six months, in all areas. We have proposed level playing field guarantees appropriate for a free trade agreement, including guarantees of non-regression. “
The source added: “The EU seems to define compromise as accepting its position. They need a rethink. “
On what the EU calls state aid, the source insisted that Britain has always been clear that it will not have a regime like the EU.
“We need the right to decide what is best for an independent nation,” the source said.
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