BRITAIN’S Brexit leaders have been accused of lying to the British people that they can have it all by a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German MEP, David McAllister, said while it was a time for calm, the days of Britain picking and choosing what it wants from the European Union are over.
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Mr McAllister, whose father was from Glasgow, and who considers himself Scottish and German said he was “heartbroken” at the referendum result.
He said Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were lying when they said Britain could have access to the single market without concessions.
He said the EU must be “calm but firm” echoing Chancellor Merkel’s approach to forthcoming negotiations but he was scathing in his opinion of the leave campaigners.
Mr McAllister, tipped as a future German Chancellor, said: “The leave campaigners lied to the British people, because they said they could join the single market without having to pay for it or without accepting the freedom of movement of people.”
He warned: “One thing is clear you can only have full access to the single market with all four freedoms of the single market. All four including the free movement of people because the EU is not only about goods, services and capital, it’s about people.”
He said Britain has decided to be outside the union and must accept the rules are now different.
He said: “This is something where we must be very clear. In is in and out is out.
“This decision means cherry picking is over and done with. There will be no more cherry picking.”
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He said that the UK needs to understand it is not making the rules.
He added: “Now we are playing our rules. It’s our rules. You can either accept these rules or you don’t.”
The Christian Democrat MEP speaks regularly to Angela Merkel and he said even she has no idea how the mechanism for Britain leaving the EU will work.
HE said how he spoke to her in the days following the vote about Article 50 as it was never envisaged to be activated.
Mr McAllister said: “Angela Merkel told me last Monday ‘I read article 50 at the weekend, wow, what does this mean the European Union on the basis on guidelines the European council will do this and that.
“Angela Merkel asked me ‘which guidelines what do they mean, which guidelines? Existing guidelines new guidelines? “
He added: “Its question after question. That’s why I was surprised that in some European capitals on Friday afternoon, some socialists had answers to all questions. We don’t know an answer to every question, we need some weeks to think about how we do this.”
That uncertainty extends to Scotland’s place in Europe and the possibilities being mooted.
He said he remains neutral in the debate about independence but praised Nicola Sturgeon for heading to Brussels to speak to politicians, of which he was one.
Mr McAllister said: “Once again it’s a leap into the dark, nobody knows there are so many questions that we don’t know answers.
“Would it be possible that a member state leaves the European Union and a part remains? Is that possible, probably not, but I just don’t know if that is possible legally .
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He mentioned the reverse Greenland idea with Denmark in and Greenland out but said he was not sure if it was possible the other way round with the member state out and a part of it in.
He added: “These questions have to be solved and that’s why it’s good that the First Minister appointed this advisory board bringing the experts together across party lines.”
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