Britain must strike a strong trade deal with the European Union after Brexit and avoid becoming a subordinate state of the bloc, foreign minister and leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson has told the Sunday Times newspaper. Failure to ditch EU law would make the United Kingdom a “vassal state,” Johnson said in an interview to be published on Sunday. Prime Minister Theresa May this week secured an agreement with the EU to move Brexit talks on to trade and a transition pact. But she must now unite her deeply divided cabinet over what trade deal Britain actually wants. Former work and pensions minister Ian Duncan Smith criticized Hammond, as did other leading Brexit supporters, for making a statement which he said was “not government policy”.

Source: Egypt Independent December 17, 2017 08:37 UTC