French Minister accuses UK of stalling on Brexit plan

A French Minister on Thursday accused Britain of stalling on its plan to leave the European Union as it wanted to negotiate agreements with individual states on a bilateral level.

Digital Affairs Minister Axelle Lemaire told a meeting of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) the UK was buying itself time because it had not thought through the decision to leave the EU, as she joined the growing chorus of those demanding to see a clear exit strategy.

“Clearly there was no plan, they had no clue that Brexit would pass and they didn’t want to put a plan on the table because they thought this would weaken their negotiating position,” she said.

Lemaire added the UK wanted to stall in order to maintain its ability, “to negotiate on an individual and bilateral level with European states” and suggested France's patience with the British position would not last forever.

“We’ll be patient as we have…but at some point political leaders in Britain have to take responsibility," she said.

“The British government is turning to its European partners to write the script. No you’re acting, you’ve created the play, you’re on stage so…tell us what issues you want to put on the table and then we’ll see.”

She said “short term internal domestic politics” would now have a disproportionate effect on the rest of Europe.

“It seems to me that they still haven’t learnt the lesson of the Brexit…they should not play with domestic politics for issues that are global and are too important to depend on the Tory or the Labour party.”

Lemaire, who was once a researcher to former Labour MP Denis MacShane told the BBC earlier in the day the political situation in Britain was “a cross between Game of Thrones and Monty Python”.

She told the (AEJ) that a 'Frexit' was unlikely. “The French are fed up of Europe but they don’t want to leave, they want a different Europe.”