'Humongous' Brexit negotiations could descend into 'name-calling', says former EU ambassador

Britain’s former ambassador to the European Union said that negotiating Britain’s exit from the bloc will be “on a humongous scale” and could descend into “name-calling” and fist-fighting”.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the white paper of the government's plans for leaving the EU will be published on Thursday.

Sir Ivan told the European Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday: “This is a negotiation on a scale we haven't experienced since World War Two. It's going to be on a humongous scale.

“We are going to have enormous amounts of business running up various different channels and then involve difficult trade-offs for Her Majesty’s government and difficult trade-offs for the other 27 on the other side of the table.”

Sir Ivan Rogers quit in January criticising the government’s “muddled thinking” over Brexit after he told the Prime Minister that a deal could take up to 10 years to negotiate. At the committee he denied that he leaked this information and said he has “no idea” how it became public two months after he wrote a memo to May.

The departed ambassador said from the senior figures in Brussels he has spoken to thought that the EU and Britain will not be able to agree a deal before 2020.

He said the EU is not likely to agree to a transitional sector specific deal and would demand that Britain pay up to €60bn to leave the bloc, including obligations to pensions.

“I have argued repeatedly for months, taking into account the framework, you can’t have a proper withdrawal treaty unless you know where you are going. How on earth can you draw up a withdrawal treaty if you don’t know where you are going. This is all one ball of wax. The first argument will be what we are actually negotiating about."

Sir Ivan maintained that Britain would be able to negotiate trade deals with other countries more quickly than the EU, but was sceptical of how much negotiating “heft” the country would have on its own.

“One of the key cases for leaving is the nimbleness and agility we would have not [being] a member state, on our own, to negotiate at speed with only our own priorities on the table. I have no doubt that we will negotiate FTAs [free trade agreements] with other partners outside the EU faster than the EU can do it. No doubt at all.

“The question is then the negotiating heft you have at the table in comparison with being part of a wider bloc. The advantage of being in the EU is not speed or nimbleness.... it is the size of the market. Why are the Canadians or South Koreans or others interested in the EU market? It’s the size and scale.”

He said that the government should seek something unprecedented from the EU for a “deeper” free trade agreement for the country’s financial services industry and which also benefits other EU states.

Elsewhere, Reuters reported that International Trade Secretary said that the government will prioritise trade deals with Korea and Switzerland once the country leaves the EU. He also said that he expects to be able to adopt the EU’s free trade agreement with other third countries.