THERESA May should walk away now from the Brexit talks and the EU’s “outrageous” demands, one of Britain’s top businessmen insisted.
Billionaire Sir James Dyson, reiterating his confidence that Britain has a “fantastic” future, said Brussels would come back desperate to offer a good trade deal.
Sir James, who backed Leave in the referendum, called for Britain to play hard ball amid growing suspicion that Brussels’ bullies are deliberately obstructing British attempts to move talks forward.
The EU insists on “sufficient progress” on Britain’s divorce bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border issue before it will let talks progress on to future relationships like trade.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier sparked fury on Friday by setting the UK a new deadline of two weeks to make concessions on paying a Brexit bill or see the start of trade talks delayed until next year.
On yesterday's Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, Sir James said the Government was not to blame for the stalemate.
“The problem is the people we are negotiating with,” he said.
“Demanding billions and billions to leave is quite outrageous, and demanding it before we have negotiated anything is outrageous.
“I would walk away. That’s the only way to deal with them. “I’ve been dealing with the EU and the EU countries for the last 25 years. There’s no way to deal with them. You have to walk away.
“If you walk away they will come to us because they’re able to export all their products to us. We are in an incredibly strong position.
“We shouldn’t give them any money, we should just walk away and they’ll come to us.
“We’ve have tried very hard. We’ve been very reasonable. They’ve been incredibly unreasonable and I think the time has come to walk away.”
Sir James, who made his millions from innovation, said Britain had to step up its engineering, manufacturing and technological focus to thrive after Brexit but he forecast the UK could emulate Singapore.
He said: “There is fantastic opportunity outside Europe.
"There is opportunity within Europe, but Europe is the slowest-growing area in the world. Other areas are much faster growing and 90 per cent of future growth will come outside the EU.”
Sir James’s comments were welcomed by Richard Tice, co-chairman of Leave Means Leave.
Mr Tice has long argued Britain should say that if the principles of a deal are not agreed by next June at the latest, it will plan to switch to World Trade Organisation rules.
He said yesterday: “Hard-working British taxpayers are rightly concerned about the outrageous sums of money Brussels is demanding.”
Sir James’s remarks came as it was revealed pro-Brexit ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove secretly pressed Theresa May not to let the EU hold Britain “over a barrel” by refusing to prepare for a no-deal exit.
Asked if he was worried about no deal preparations, Mr Gove said the country, Mrs May and the Cabinet wanted a good deal and he disagreed with Sir James’s call to quit talks now.
Brexit Secretary David Davis denied a no-deal outcome currently looked more likely than ever but he said Britain would be prepared for that scenario.