Dutch finance minister blasts Boris Johnson for offering 'impossible' Brexit deal
THE DUTCH finance minister ripped into Boris Johnson and branded his vision for Brexit “intellectually impossible”.
Dutch finance minister: Johnson's Brexit vision impossible
Jeroen Dijsselbloem accused the Foreign Secretary of offering options for the UK that “are really not available”.
The comments come after Mr Johnson indicated that Britain would “probably” leave the EU customs union but that it still wanted free trade with Europe in an interview with a Czech newspaper.
Speaking on BBC Two’s Newsnight, Mr Dijsselbloem said: “To say we could be inside the internal market, keep full access to the internal market but be outside the customs union – this is just impossible, it doesn’t exist.
Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has slammed Boris Johnson's Brexit vision
To say we could be inside the internal market, keep full access to the internal market but be outside the customs union – this is just impossible, it doesn’t exist
“He's saying things that are intellectually impossible, politically unavailable, so I think he's not offering the fair approach that gives the British people a fair view of what is ahead, what is available and what can be achieved in these negotiations."
The politician warned both the UK and the European Union would be “worse off” after Brexit.
"There is no win-win situation,” he said. “It's going to be a lose-lose situation and in the best case, if we set aside all emotions and try to work out an agreement that is least damaging to both of us we can minimise the damages.”
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He said companies currently operating in the UK had full access to European markets "without any hindrance or customs duties" but insisted at least some access "will disappear” after Brexit.
Mr Dijsselbloem called on the former Mayor of London to start looking at ways of limiting damage to both the UK and the EU.
He said: ”We can do our best to minimise damages but it's going to be a step back and that is what Boris Johnson should start talking about."
The Government has since come under fire for not clarifying its stance on the customs union.
The former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond bashed Prime Minister Theresa May for not addressing the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon.