Yahoo News Brexit Secretary says PM right to be tough with EU on good deal
David Davis has said he would make "no apology" for the Prime Minister's threat to EU leaders that a bad Brexit deal would be "an act of calamitous self-harm".
The Brexit Secretary told Sky News Theresa May was right to set out "ambitious" plans for a deal with the EU and that it would be in their "best interests" to do a deal that worked for both.
In her key Brexit speech on Tuesday, Mrs May warned the EU that "no deal was better than a bad deal" and made clear she would be happy to work away.
:: What May's 12-point Brexit plan really means
Taking a tough line on the negotiations ahead, Mrs May said if European leaders tried to punish the UK for Brexit with a bad deal she would be prepared to move to a low-tax economy to make the country a more attractive place to do business than the EU.
She said: "I know there are some voices calling for a punitive deal that punishes Britain and discourages other countries from taking the same path.
"That would be an act of calamitous self-harm for the countries of Europe and it would not be the act of a friend.
"Britain would not - indeed we could not - accept such an approach. No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain."
:: Sky News poll - Britons back single market exit
And, while she said the UK would leave the single market, she said the UK wanted to keep some aspects of single market agreements and possibly even remain in the Customs union.
The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, hit back saying: "Britain has chosen a hard Brexit. May's clarity is welcome, but the days of UK cherry-picking and Europe a la carte are over."
Although EU leading Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier tweeted: "Ready as soon as the UK is. Only notification can kick off negotiations."
The Czech secretary of state and Latvian ambassador to the UK played down suggestions other EU countries would try to impose a harsh trade deal on the UK as a Brexit punishment.
Mr Davis told Sky News: "I make no apology for being ambitious for Britain and actually ambitious for Europe too..."
He added: "This is going to be a tough negotiation but the simple truth is we have made plain what we want to see happen and she has, of course, set out what we don't want to see happen and I think it's quite important for that to be done.
"But the simple truth is we know what we want and we have made this point to Europe very, very plainly and it is in their interests, that's the point, it's very much in their interests to do this deal."
:: EU could take economic hit to deter Brexit copycats
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News that Mrs May's threat to the EU to turn the UK into a "tax haven" was an "act of great self harm for which she has absolutely no mandate".
He said turning the country into a "bargain basement, tax haven economy" would "make all of us poorer, destroy businesses" and would be "inconsistent with her commitment to workers' rights or fairness".
He added that Labour wanted to see Mrs May set out her negotiating position with a full plan, filling in the gaps left in her speech, in the Article 50 legislation, which will see MPs vote on whether to trigger the official EU divorce process.
The Prime Minister, who spoke to Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Francois Hollande to talk about her plan on Tuesday night, will face tough questions from MPs at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
Opposition leaders have already made it clear that they are unhappy with Mrs May's plans.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Throughout the speech there appears to have been an implied threat that somewhere along the line if all her optimism of a deal with the European Union didn't work we would move into a low tax, corporate taxation bargain basement economy on the offshore of Europe."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "(Mrs May) claimed people voted to leave the single market. They didn't. She has made the choice to do massive damage to the British economy."
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Scotland can't be taken down a path we didn't vote for against our interests - we've put forward proposals. We'll continue to take decisions in an orderly manner, but I'm not prepared to allow Scotland's interests to be steamrollered."
In her 12-point plan, Mrs May confirmed she wants Britain to regain control over immigration from EU countries, would leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and give Parliament a vote on the final deal.
Mr Davis disclosed that the Government would push ahead with Brexit no matter how MPs and peers voted.
He told Sky News: "It (Parliament) will choose between the outcomes but it won't stop us leaving the EU."
Meanwhile, Italian MEP Antonio Tajani has been elected as the new European Parliament president, succeeding Martin Schultz.
Mr Tajani, a former EU Commissioner, will hold the position for the next two and a half years.
From the centre right, and widely viewed as a pragmatist, Mr Tajani has claimed he "won't be prime minister for the EU, I will put forward the views of Parliament to the Council" and is, therefore, unlikely to be an obstacle to Brexit.
