From Christopher Hope, Chief Political Editor
Boris Johnson has become "privately infuriated" with what he sees as the EU's attempts to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The Prime Minister believes Brussels has unilaterally been "changing the terms" of the deal they both agreed last year in which both sides set out to work towards an ambitious and deep trade agreement.
Mr Johnson is expected to make clear that now Brexit is over, the UK expects "to be treated as equals" and as a "fully independent" country.
He will make clear that the UK's "approach to a free trade deal will not be bound by our previous obligations... nor will we agree to obligations which the EU has not required of other countries which it has signed comparable free trade deals with".
As a result the UK is no longer wedded to a Canada-style agreement, in what would be a major hardening in the Government's Brexit strategy. Downing Street negotiators are now willing to pursue a much "looser" trade deal while simultaneously signing agreements with countries that make up 13 per cent of the world's GDP.
A government source said: "There are only two likely outcomes in negotiation - a free trade deal like Canada or a looser arrangement like Australia - and we are happy to pursue both.”
An Australian-type deal would allow both sides to cherry pick which areas of the economy they can agree on, and leave the rest to World Trade Organisation rules.
Mr Johnson will stress that his chief negotiator, David Frost, and his team "are aiming to secure an agreement at least as ambitious as Canada’s deal with the EU. However they have been privately infuriated by the EU changing the terms of the deal".
In a speech to business leaders, ambassadors and think tank representatives in London, he will say the UK must be treated as an "equal" and make clear there will be "no alignment, no jurisdiction of the European courts, and no concessions" with Brussels.
From Christopher Hope, Chief Political Editor
In a week when the UK formally begins talks at the WTO in its own right, the Sunday Telegraph has learned Mr Johnson has a two year plan to sign global deals to give the UK access to markets worth trillions of pounds by the end of next year.
A trade deal is ear-marked to be agreed with Japan by Christmas followed by more agreements with Australia and New Zealand in the middle of next year.
The ultimate aim is for the UK to accede to membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPPP_) - a group of 11 nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore, the third largest free-trade area after North America and the EU.
Crawford Falconer, the UK's lead trade negotiator, has already amassed a team of 700 lawyers and experts at the Department for International Trade, with £110billion-worth of trade deals ready to be rolled over when the UK exits the implementation period on Dec 31 this year.
Separately The Sunday Telegraph can disclose:
• Ministers are planning a trip to Japan this spring in a bid to accelerate talks on a trade deal with Japan which promised yesterday to "work promptly" towards "a new economic partnership between the countries;
• Britain wants to publish a draft UK-EU trade deal before Brussels finalises its negotiations on the future relationship at the end of this month to steal the initiative in the trade talks;
Mr Johnson will say that the National Health Service will not be sold off in any trade deal and he will not relax standards on food hygiene, workers' rights or environmental protections.
From Peter Foster, Europe Editor
Boris Johnson is preparing to impose full customs and border checks on all European goods entering the UK after Brexit, in a ramping-up of pressure for the forthcoming UK/EU talks.
In a radical departure from pre-election ‘no deal’ planning that prioritised the smooth flow of goods into the UK from Europe, Whitehall has told departments to prepare for imposing the full panoply of checks on EU imports to the UK.
The toughened approach is designed to give UK negotiators greater leverage against Brussels
Preparations for the new EU-UK trading relationship are now poised to shift into a radically higher gear, The Telegraph has learned, in a move that will shock many businesses, including hauliers, logistics companies and supermarket chains.
“We are planning full checks on all EU imports - export declarations, security declarations, animal health checks and all supermarket goods to pass through Border Inspections Posts,” said a senior Whitehall source with knowledge of the plans. “This will double the practical challenge at the border in January 2021.”
From Liam Halligan, Business Section
As the fog of uncertainty lifts, the economy just recorded its best month in over a year. Confidence among manufacturers saw its sharpest rise on record in December. Employers took on more staff and consumer confidence also picked up. Now the political hard yards have been won, and everyone knows which way the wind is blowing, business leaders are admitting that Brexit, after all, “is a plus for the UK economy”.
Investors big and small have been constrained by political shenanigans, frozen by uncertainty, for too long. The juices of our commercial classes are now stirring, our entrepreneurial blood is up. Global business leaders, eyeing UK-based opportunities hungrily, are shifting cash in our direction, sensing that legendary British ability to invent, innovate and generate wealth is a very long way from over.
We’re set to expand 1.4pc this year - faster than Germany, France and the Eurozone. A new chapter in the story of these islands is beginning and, as ever, the rest of the world wants some of the upside.
From Sir Bill Cash
Let it be crystal clear that, unlike under the previous administration, Boris Johnson’s government will not capitulate nor is legally bound to capitulate to the terms and conditions set by the European Union as Article 288 of the treaty clearly shows. And we cannot allow the EU to insist that we are unable to benefit from, or be competitive outside the European Union. We must be allowed to diverge as necessary.