Johnson warns of 'Brexit disaster'
Boris Johnson has savaged Theresa May's Brexit plans, saying they would leave the UK with "diddly squat" after the negotiations and hand the EU "victory".The former foreign secretary used his Daily Telegraph column to say the PM's Chequers deal - which led him to resign in July - "means disaster" for Britain, reports BBC.
It comes as the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, says he is "strongly" opposed to parts of the plan. The UK government insisted its Brexit strategy was "precise and pragmatic".
The so-called Chequers deal was agreed by cabinet at the prime minister's country residence as the UK's preferred way forward in negotiations with Brussels. May's plan would see the UK agreeing a "common rulebook" with the EU for trading in goods, in an attempt to maintain frictionless trade at the border.
It also officially ends the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK, but the ECJ would continue to be "the interpreter of EU rules" that the UK has agreed to stick to. Critics say the deal will leave the UK tied to EU rules and prevent Britain from striking its own trade deals in years to come.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March. The negotiations between the UK and EU have an informal deadline tied to a summit in October - although figures on both sides have said it could slip back to November.
If the UK and the EU do reach a deal, MPs will then have to approve it - and BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg described what happens if they reject it as a "great unknown"."Nobody can answer that question because it simply has not happened before," she added.
