The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has appealed over the heads of EU negotiators directly to France and Germany to try to force the European commission to strike a “sensible and pragmatic” Brexit deal.
Ahead of talks with his opposite number in Paris, Hunt accused Brussels of waiting for Britain “to blink” in negotiations as he claimed the chances of the UK leaving the EU without a deal were “increasing by the day”.
“That is just a profound misunderstanding of us as a nation,” he said. “There is real chance of no deal by accident. Everyone is assuming, no, no, no, this will never happen. Well, actually, it could.”
Hunt’s warning came as the Elysee Palace announced that Theresa May would join the French President, Emmanuel Macron, at his summer home, Fort de Bregançon, in the south of France on Friday when her holiday in the Italian lakes comes to an end.
No 10 confirmed the visit, planned in advance, would include talks on the prime minister’s Chequers deal, but the pair would then be joined by Philip May and the president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, for a private dinner.
In an interview before his trip to France, Hunt warned the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, that his approach to the talks would inflict a “breakdown in relations and trust” between Britain and the continent, which would be a “profound geostrategic mistake”.
“The probability of no deal is increasing by the day until we see a change of approach from the European commission, who have this view that they just need to wait and Britain will blink,” he told the Evening Standard.
“France and Germany have to send a strong signal to the commission that we need to negotiate a pragmatic and sensible outcome that protects jobs on both sides of the Channel, because for every job lost in the UK, there will be jobs lost in Europe as well if Brexit goes wrong.”
Hunt: u201cthere is real chance of no deal by accidentu201d
