Will Brexit ever happen? Owen Paterson MP dismisses Vince Cable claims

Reacting to the comments from his former cabinet colleague, North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson said: “I’m afraid Vince is behind history, we are going to leave, we are on target.”

Mr Paterson said “85 per cent of the electorate voted for parties that want to leave” the European Union.

“If we do not deliver a proper Brexit, which means leaving the single market, leaving the customs union and leaving the jurisdiction of the ECJ and taking back control, as we made very clear in the referendum, there will be absolutely appalling damage to the integrity of the whole establishment – not just political, the media and the judicial establishment,” he said in an interview on BBC’s Sunday Politics.

It came after Sir Vince Cable had said “enormous” divisions in the Labour and the Tory parties and a “deteriorating” economy would make people think again.

“People will realise that we didn’t vote to be poorer, and I think the whole question of continued membership will once again arise,” he said.

The comments came as German business leaders cast doubt on ministers’ claims that the country’s manufacturers will help secure a Brexit trade deal, instead warning Theresa May it will be “extraordinarily difficult” to protect UK industry.

Ministers have frequently claimed that German car makers, along with other key European industries such as French farmers and winemakers, would lobby their governments to agree a comprehensive deal which maintains tariff-free trade between the UK and the other 27 EU member states.

But the leaders of two of Germany’s main business organisation said the priority for them was maintaining the integrity of the single market for the 27 remaining members of the European Union.

Dieter Kempf, president of the BDI, the federation of German industries, said in an interview: “Defending the single market, a key European project, must be the priority for the European Union. Europe must maintain the integrity of the single market and its four freedoms: goods, capital, services, and labour.

“It is the responsibility of the British Government to limit the damage on both sides of the Channel. Over the coming months, it will be extraordinarily difficult to avert negative effects on British businesses in particular.”

Ingo Kramer, president of the confederation of German employers’ associations (BDA), said: “The single market is one of the major assets of the EU. Access to the single market requires the acceptance of all four single market freedoms.

“The UK will remain a very important partner for us, but we need a fair deal for both sides respecting this principle. The cohesion of the remaining 27 EU member states has highest priority.”

Their intervention comes after the Prime Minister received a boost at the G20 summit, with US President Donald Trump highlighting the prospect of a trade deal with the UK.

Mrs May said it was a “powerful vote of confidence” in Britain.