‘Terrible Brexit secretary’ David Davis slapped down on call for new talks

Forrmer Brexit secretary David Davis was slapped down today after arguing that Brussels would be willing to renegotiate the proposed withdrawal deal.

Mr Davis, who quit in July over Theresa May’s Chequers trade plan, claimed it was still possible to reopen negotiations. He argued that the Government was too willing to make concessions rather than stand up to demands from the EU.

But Cabinet minister James Brokenshire rejected the suggestion and Sir Simon Fraser, formerly the Foreign Office’s top mandarin, branded Mr Davis a “terrible” Brexit secretary, claiming he had not properly engaged with Brussels during the talks.

Dismissing Mrs May’s proposed withdrawal deal, Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is a dreadful proposal, it really doesn’t fly by any measure. It is not a deal we should accept.” Brexiteers claim Mrs May’s Civil Service advisers have not taken a sufficiently tough approach during talks.

Mr Davis accused Brussels of “deliberately” spinning out negotiations “to try to use time against us”. He added: “It will get to a point, I am quite sure, when it will be very tense and people will be very nervous about the way the negotiations go, but European negotiations are never over until they are concluded.”

Sir Simon tweeted: “David Davis was a terrible Brexit secretary. He could hardly be bothered to go to Brussels and rapidly lost respect there. Preposterous for him now to suggest that EU deliberately delayed negotiations. They spent months waiting for him to engage.”

Communities Secretary Mr Brokenshire downplayed the possibility that the Government could still reopen negotiations. “The very clear and firm assessment is that this is the deal that needs to be concluded,” he said.

“It strikes a fair balance. Yes, there are compromises that are there. But there is no sense that there will be anything more that can be gained through further negotiation. Indeed, it may well take us backwards if you were to try and even do that.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders have signalled they are not currently prepared to renew talks on alternative arrangements.

“We have a document on the table that Britain and the EU27 have agreed to, so for me there is no question at the moment whether we negotiate further,” she said yesterday.

The European Parliament’s Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt stressed the deal had been hammered out after two years of “intense negotiations”.

But he also left open the possibility of some limited changes, saying “there is not a lot of room” to amend the proposed deal.