‘UK ‘in need of leadership’, May’s Brexit deal unwelcome to Trump’

LONDON (Sputnik): Nonetheless, Trump is said to be “looking forward to and hoping” a post-Brexit bilateral trade agreement will be be struck between the two countries.

Britain is “in need of leadership” and a “quick, very massive” trade deal with the US will not be possible under Theresa May’s Brexit plan, US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson has said — although he also warned the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan would make such a deal impossible.

“I have been all over Wales, I have been all over Ireland and Scotland and also England and I feel like the country is in need of leadership. Combined with the EU, you can see where this disagreement came from,” he said.

His comments follow Trump saying in November May’s agreement with Brussels “sounds like a great deal for the EU” as he cast doubt on whether a future trade deal with the US would be possible.

Asked directly if he believed a deal would be possible under the current terms of the UK’s divorce agreement, Johnson replied in the negative, saying the Government would have to measure the impact” of the “trade-offs” it made in the Brexit deal. However, Johnson said the President remained hopeful a deal could be done, and Trump also welcomed the chance to be the first world leader to visit the UK after Brexit.

“I would think that would be great. I think the President would be in favour of it and looking forward to it because that was mentioned when he was over here. So yeah, if we can do that that would be a big positive,” he concluded. However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson suggested Johnson claim that a deal would likely not be possible under the current Brexit agreement.

“Work is already underway in discussing our future trading relationship with the US through our joint working group which has met five times so far. We have both had public consultations on this. It will be a priority for us once we leave the European Union,” they explained.

The fate of the UK’s Brexit deal very much hangs in the balance, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for the House of Commons to be recalled early from its Christmas break to allow MPs to vote on the issue — parliament’s not due to reconvene until January 7, with the vote on the Prime Minister’s deal expected to take place in the week after that. In an interview with the newspaper, he accused May of a “completely cynical manoeuvre” to “run down the clock and offer MPs the choice of the devil or the deep blue sea”.

Nonetheless, before parliament’s Christmas recess Corbyn didn’t join MPs such as Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable and Conservative Justine Greening calling for recess to be cancelled or curtailed in order to allow the vote to go ahead.