PM's Brexit deal 'so bad it cannot proceed', says North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson claims the deal Theresa May unveiled last week is 'so bad' it cannot possibly proceed.
And he claimed that the Prime Minister's deal, if it were to go through, would block free trade with the US.
As the Brexit debate rages at Westminster, Mr Paterson travelled to the US with fellow eurosceptic David Davis.
The pair highlighted potential trade opportunities, seeing work to increase wheat yields in Oklahoma, which Mr Paterson said could create a chance for Harper Adams University to get involved.
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Mr Paterson continued to express his view that the current deal on the table was unworkable.
He said: "It betrays the Conservative manifesto promises to leave the single market, the customs union and the jurisdiction of the European Court. Instead, it offers either an extension of the status quo, or the nightmare of a potentially permanent 'backstop'.”
"That backstop would see the whole UK remain in a customs union with the EU, with Northern Ireland in the customs union and single market. So, far from protecting the union, the backstop could see the creation of new internal borders within the UK in clear breach of the Belfast Agreement’s Principle of Consent.
"Worse, the UK would not have the unilateral right to end the arrangement, so we could be locked into it indefinitely as a permanent rule-taker with no say as those rules are made."
Mr Paterson added: "We will send the EU upwards of £39 billion for the privilege – and the ECJ will even adjudicate our payment of that."
Mr Paterson travelled to America as part of a delegation to meet senior trade officials.
He said: "In Washington I discussed the deal with senior US trade representatives. There was real enthusiasm for a US/UK trade deal, but they were categorical that this would be impossible if the UK does not control its own tariff schedules or our regulatory environment.
"My meetings in Oklahoma gave a glimpse of real opportunities across the USA to boost investment and co-operation in fields including agritech if the UK can sign UK/US trade deal.
"This is only possible if the UK controls its own tariffs and regulatory environment, which Prime Minister's deal does not deliver.
"It is obvious that the Prime Minister will not get her deal through Parliament. Her best option is to change course and negotiate a wide-ranging, zero-tariff trade agreement with solutions to the Northern Ireland border based on existing techniques and processes.
"Otherwise, she risks failing to honour the largest democratic mandate which the British people have ever delivered."
