UK Edition
Theresa May should not quit as Prime Minister over the stalled Brexit talks and “stick it out”, says former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Mr Duncan Smith also warned that Britain had a “50-50” chance of getting deal on the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union.
That came as Owen Paterson, a former Environment secretary, said Mrs May should threaten to walk away from talks next week and start negotiations to trade on World Trade Organisation rules after Britain leaves the EU.
Mr Duncan Smith said he could see her walking away from the talks but did not want her to quit as Prime Minister.
He told Chopper’s Brexit Podcast which is available online from 6am today: “I want her to stick it out. It is not going to be easy, it is going to be bumpy. We are all trying to give her advice and views and sometimes they are viewed as not altogether that helpful but it is helpful to the range and strength of opinion because I think the country is in different position to where Parliament is by a long way.
“I believe we will get a trade deal - whether we start on that before Christmas is questionable - but i do believe we will get a trade deal eventually.
“Underneath the surface of this EU solidarity that we keep getting told about there is a lot of simmering discontent.
“I don’t think we should be treated like second rate citizens. We are the UK. Globally one of the greatest military powers and we will remain one of the largest economies in the world, and one with a great future, some would say a better future than the EU at the moment.”
He added: “The British public want her [the Prime Minister] to turn round to the EU and say: look, enough is enough.
“Sixty five per cent of the public believe now that the EU is deliberately trying to punish the UK and they disapprove of that. And that includes people who voted Remain.
“They are right about that. The EU is coming very badly at the moment – she can use that in saying to them ‘you are not in the slightest behaving like decent people who want to be friends’.”
A deal on the terms of Britain's exit - EU citizens' rights, the Brexit bill and the Irish border - next week was “in the balance, 50-50. On the Irish issue it depends on whether the Irish are prepared to recognise that no deal for the Irish is a disaster, an unmitigated disaster”.
Owen Paterson, a former Cabinet minster, also said Mrs May should be prepared to walk away from the talks.
Mr Paterson told the Podcast: “I think she should walk way. There is a certain point she should walk away, and we should sit down and go to Geneva next week and say it is WTO [World Trade Organisation rules] until you come back to us.”
That prompted Vernon Coaker, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary also appearing on the Podcast, to reply: “That walk away approach can only lead to potential disaster for us all.”