LONDON: A senior minister on Tuesday defended Britain's plans to cut EU ties to pursue an independent trade policy post-Brexit, after his former top official compared the approach to swapping a three-course meal for a packet of crisps.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said leaving the European Union's single market and customs union was crucial if Britain was to take advantage of its newfound independence.
"Our approach should not be premised on simply identifying how much of our current relationship we want to keep, but what we need to prosper in a rapidly changing global environment," he said in a speech in London.
He called for a "fully independent trade policy" that would allow Britain to strike deals in new markets.
- 'More like a packet of crisps' -
The opposition Labour party on Monday joined business lobby groups in calling for a new customs union with the EU after Brexit, raising the pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to change course.
And just hours before Fox's speech, Martin Donnelly, who was the senior civil servant at the minister's Department for International Trade until last year, joined criticism of the government's strategy.
He said any new free trade agreements with other countries would not compensate for what Britain was giving up, saying it would "not get anything like" the same market access in other non-EU countries.
"That feels more like a packet of crisps than a three-course meal," he told AFP.
He also dismissed the government's argument that it could get equivalent access to the EU in certain sectors even outside the single market.
"You don't need a skillful negotiator to do that, you need a fairy godmother. It's not going to happen," he said.
Fox hit back at his old colleague, saying: "It's unsurprising that those who spent a lifetime working within the European Union would see moving away from the EU as being threatening."
May's spokesman refused to be drawn on Donnelly's analogy, saying: "As you know, she has given crisps up for Lent."
- Sell out of national interests -
Members of a customs union agree a common external tariff on imports, allowing goods to move freely inside the area, but give up the right to sign their own trade deals.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday stressed that a new customs union between Britain and the EU "would not allow full access to the single markets".
"A customs union is a solution that exists -- it's what we have with Turkey," he said.
Fox, a leading advocate of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum, warned however that agreeing a new customs union would mean accepting EU rules.
"As rule takers, without any say in how the rules were made, we would be in a worse position than we are today," he said.
"It would be a complete sell-out of Britain's national interests, and a betrayal of voters in the referendum."
He said an arrangement such as Turkey's would limit Britain's ability to sign trade deals in sectors covered by the customs union -- forcing it to negotiate "with one arm tied behind our back".
Fox is the latest in a string of ministers to make major speeches on Brexit, culminating in a keynote address by the prime minister on Friday.
The EU has been pressing for further details on what Britain wants from future trade ties before talks begin in April. London hopes to get a deal by the end of the year.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's backing for the customs union on Monday could give encouragement to members of May's Conservative party who want a similar deal.
They have tabled an amendment calling for a new customs union to a draft bill going through the House of Commons, where May has only a slim majority.
Fox said: "I hope we'll be able to persuade our colleagues... that the benefits of the approach that the prime minister will set out will actually be to the greater prosperity and security of the people of this country."