Grayling confident of Britain-EU deal

Chris Grayling says Britain is essential market for key industries in other EU states. Photo: Reuters
Chris Grayling says Britain is essential market for key industries in other EU states. Photo: Reuters

Britain will clinch a deal to allow it wide access to EU markets after Brexit because Germany and France don't want to impose limits that could hurt their biggest industries, leading Brexit campaigner Chris Grayling believes.

Grayling, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's top team, said he expected Britain to have informal talks with the European Union about its future relationship before triggering Article 50, which he said should only be done only when Britain is ready.

"At the end of the day, money and jobs talk," Grayling, a Conservative lawmaker and leader of Britain's House of Commons told Reuters in his office in Parliament.

 "This is not about the United Kingdom knocking on the door and saying: 'Please, what about us?' This is a really important trading relationship for the European Union."

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When EU leaders met for the first time without Britain on Wednesday, they made it clear they believed London could only access the bloc's lucrative single market if it agreed to allow free movement for EU workers.

Britain's economy, worth around $US2.9 trillion ($NZ4 trillion) before the Brexit vote, is dwarfed by the EU's economy, worth $13.3 trillion without Britain, according to International Monetary Fund data for 2015.

Grayling, one of a handful of senior Conservatives who campaigned to leave the bloc ahead of Britain's 52 to 48 percent vote for Brexit last week, said the fact Britain was an essential market for key industries in other EU states made a deal possible.

"It is as much about their access to the UK market as it is the other way round," he said. "When the heat has settled and the dust has settled after this referendum vote it is in everybody's interests to have a sensible trading arrangement."

Britain's financial services sector, by far Europe's biggest, would have to be protected in any negotiation, he said.

"It is inconceivable that we would simply say for example that it is fine for French agriculture or German automotive to be able to have free, unfettered access to the UK market in future but to leave the rules and regulations in a way that would cause a real damage to the City of London," he said.

"To me trading normally means that German cars are sold in the UK, that French agricultural products are sold in the UK and that the City of London delivers financial services to clients around the European Union."

LIMITS ON IMMIGRATION

With immigration a major feature in the debate over Britain's EU membership, Grayling said the result of last week's vote compelled the government to act on curbing free movement.

"It is very clear the British people have given us a mandate to be able to set limits on the number of people who come and live and work here, this may be a challenging part of the negotiation but it is an essential part," he said.

Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, announced his resignation after last week's vote, triggering a leadership contest within the ruling Conservative Party that will elect his successor by early September.

Grayling, who declined to say who he would support in that contest, said he did not think the new prime minister needed to hold an early election. Britain is not due to hold its next national election until 2020.

"I would think there is absolutely no reason at all to have a general election this year or in the near term," he said. "We need to get on with this job, I can see no benefit at all to the United Kingdom in trying to have an early election."

Grayling, a former journalist and management consultant, said he had initially been surprised by the referendum result but believed it would open up opportunities for Britain.

The EU, he said, was being left behind the rest of the world economically and needed to integrate further, without Britain, if it was to survive.

"I don't think it is necessarily doomed but it has huge challenges," he said.

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