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We
are now entering the final phase of our negotiations with the EU.
The
EU have been very clear about the timetable. I am too.
There
needs to be an agreement with our European friends by the time of the
European Council on 15 October.
If
we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free
trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on.
We’ll
then have a trading arrangement with the EU like Australia’s.
I
want to be absolutely clear that, as we have said right from the start,
that would be a good outcome for the UK.
As
a Government we’re preparing, at our borders and at our ports, to be
ready for it.
We
will have full control over our laws, our rules, and our fishing
waters.
We
will have the freedom to do trade deals with every country in the
world. And we will prosper mightily as a result.
We
will of course always be ready to talk to our EU friends even in these
circumstances. Our door will never be closed and we will trade as
friends and partners – but without a free trade agreement.
There
is still an agreement to be had and we will continue to work hard in
September to achieve it.
It
is one based on our reasonable proposal for a standard free trade
agreement like the one the EU has agreed with Canada and so many
others.
Even
at this late stage, if the EU are ready to rethink their current
positions and agree this I will be delighted.
But we cannot and will not
compromise on the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent
country to get it.
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