THERESA May is to break off from her summer holiday in Italy to hold talks with Emmanuel Macron in an attempt to persuade France to be more flexible on Brexit and accept her Chequers Plan as the only way to avoid a no-deal departure from the EU.
The Prime Minister’s dramatic dash on Friday to the French President’s summer retreat at the Fort de Bregancon on a small picturesque island in the Mediterranean comes after Jeremy Hunt warned that the EU27’s intransigence was “increasing by the day” the chance of a cliff-edge withdrawal.
And on another front, David Mundell, during a speech in New Zealand, will today call on Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government to “pull together” with Whitehall or risk jeopardising Britain’s ability to fully seize trade opportunities post-Brexit.
In a speech at the University of Otago in Dunedin, the Scottish Secretary will say: “For the first time in over 40 years we will be able to determine who we trade with and on what terms.
“But to seize the opportunities abroad, the fact is we need to pull together at home. We need to be ready for Brexit. This means working with the Scottish Government to make our exit from the EU a success in Scotland and for Scotland.”
READ MORE: Jeremy Hunt warns chance of no deal Brexit 'increasing by the day'
This hoped-for collaboration will include the need for UK-wide common frameworks covering various policy areas, which will be required not only to maintain the integrity of the country’s internal market but also to “allow us to safeguard our ability to sign up to and implement trade deals and fulfil our international obligations”.
Tomorrow, Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, will travel to Dover to discuss the preparations being made for Brexit but which will also highlight the potential disruption to trade and passenger traffic should there be a no-deal.
In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Mr Hunt said: "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. That is just a profound misunderstanding of us as a nation.
"There is a real chance of no-deal by accident. Everyone is assuming, no, no, no, this will never happen; well, actually, it could.”
Mrs May’s dash to see Mr Macron suggests the UK Government is now seeking to go over the head of Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, who last week was said to have “killed off” the central plank of her Chequers Plan by dismissing out of hand the facilitated customs arrangement.
READ MORE: Think-tank in Windrush call on post-Brexit ID system
The PM, who will later in August, spend two weeks in Switzerland, could well break off from this holiday for talks with Europe’s other power-broker: Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, ahead of an informal EU summit in September.
Mr Hunt noted: "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."
The Secretary of State said a no-deal scenario would have “profound economic consequences” for the rest of Europe and make it harder for European businesses to access finance via the City.
"Probably the City, as the financier of European business, is the central point to make here. If it became harder for European businesses to access finance, that is far from trivial,” declared Mr Hunt.
"The City itself would find a way to thrive, whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. If it became a low-tax, low-regulation, offshoot fully outside the EU, it would find a way to thrive in those circumstances. But for European businesses the impact would be profound," he insisted.
The Foreign Secretary said that a "breakdown in relations and trust between Britain and European countries" would be a "profound geo-strategic mistake".
READ MORE: No 10 says Government taking 'sensible precautions' on no-deal Brexit but Army not on standby
In other developments:
*the SNP called on Mrs May to "step back from the Brexit abyss" and adopt a "cross-nations approach" to protect the economy after leaked Dover Council papers suggested a “temporary” 13-mile post-Brexit lorry park across the southbound M20 carriageway could in fact last “many years” as a permanent solution was not ready;
*the International Trade Department hailed the Japanese Government’s declaration that it would “spare no effort to support the UK” if it sought to join the trans-Pacific trade partnership and said it welcomed the call by Liam Fox, the Trade Secretary, to boost UK-Japanese trade links and
*Treasury figures showed the UK made a net contribution to the EU in 2017/18 of an estimated £8.8 billion – the pro-EU People's Vote said the latest figures showed Britain’s reliance on trade with the EU was growing as Brexit drew closer.
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