THERESA May has been accused of going “full Donald Trump” after an astonishing intervention where she accused the EU of lying and attempt to interfere in Britain’s general election.
Nicola Sturgeon said the the shock outburst would “poison” the UK’s Brexit negotiations.
The Prime Minister made the bullish remarks outside 10 Downing Street moments after she’d been to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
May said the leaks in a German newspaper about a supposedly disastrous dinner between her British Brexit team and European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker were a “misrepresentation” of the Government’s negotiating position.
Those reports suggested Juncker had left the meeting believing May was “deluded” over what was involved in Brexit.
The Tory leader said the leak from the European side was an example of “just how tough these talks are likely to be”.
“Britain’s negotiating position in Europe has been misrepresented in the continental press,” she claimed. “The European commission’s negotiating stance has hardened. Threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and officials.
“All of these acts have been deliberately timed to affect the result of the General Election which will take place on June 8.”
She added: “We continue to believe that no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal. But we want a deal. We want a deep and special partnership with the European Union, and we want the EU to succeed.
“But the events of the last few days have shown that whatever our wishes and however reasonable the positions of the Europe’s other leaders, there are some in Brussels who do not want these talks to succeed, who do not want Britain to prosper.”
The undiplomatic remarks were effectively an election campaign stump speech. Though they may have annoyed Brussels, they will have played well with the Tory leader’s supporters.
May added that the negotiations over Brexit were “central to everything”, and gave voters a choice of trusting her or Jeremy Corbyn in facing up to “the bureaucrats of Brussels”.
Sturgeon said the comments risked jobs and living standards: “For all the bravado, the fact is that the UK Government’s leverage in these negotiations is extremely limited.
“So for Theresa May, driven by entirely narrow, partisan motives, to deliberately seek to poison the well will make the negotiating task ahead even harder.
“This is an irresponsible, gratuitous attack on our European neighbours, which is aimed at diverting attention from the Tories’ dismal record on health, the economy, austerity and welfare by painting the EU as a bogeyman.
“Insulting our neighbours simply makes the Brexit mountain much harder to climb, but unfortunately it is par for the course from Theresa May.”
Scottish Labour’s Lewis Macdonald said May was insulting Europe: “Theresa May has gone full Donald Trump with this bizarre intervention.
“This Tory government is clearly woefully under-prepared for the difficult and complicated negotiations ahead – and insulting Europe’s political leaders is unlikely to make them any more amenable to giving the UK a good deal.”
Earlier in the day, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier had set out Brussels hand in the first stages of discussions, calling for citizens’ rights, the border in Ireland and the UK’s financial obligations, which, according to reports have jumped from €60bn to €100bn, to be settled quickly.
Tory Brexit minister David Davis said the UK would not pay the €100bn, and claimed the demand was pure politics.
Barnier didn’t comment on the new divorce bill, but said the UK needed to take care of its commitments if it wanted to start negotiating a trade deal: “This all has to be totted up,” he said. “We have entered into rigorous and objective work that should be incontestable and which will have to take account of commitments for the past.
“I cannot understand why here and there I hear mention of punishment, the exit bill, the Brexit bill. Commitments have been made and those responsibilities have to be honoured.”
He added: “Some have created the illusion that Brexit would have no material impact on our lives or that negotiations can be concluded quickly and painlessly. This is not the case. We need sound solutions, we need legal precision and this will take time.”
Barnier called on Britain to get round the table as soon as possible: “It’s high time we started negotiating. We shall start negotiating as soon as the UK is ready to come to the table. The clock is ticking,” he said.
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