Soft Brexit is a fantasy, says Sir Bill Cash

The MP, one of the Tory euro-rebels who came close to bringing down John Major's Conservative government in the early 1990s, spoke as the UK approaches the one-year anniversary of the referendum.

He said said the election result on June 8 served to underline people's scepticism towards the European Union.

He said the Conservatives, Labour and Ukip, which all expressed commitment to Britain leaving the EU in their manifestos, took 84 per cent of the vote in the election, confirming that the majority of people wanted Britain to honour the referendum.

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Sir Bill, who was speaking ahead of a debate with author and journalist Harry Mount at Upton Cressett, near Bridgnorth, at the weekend, said remaining in the European Single Market or the customs union were complete non-starters.

"It's absolute rubbish to talk about hard or soft Brexit," he said.

"All that means absolutely nothing. What we are talking about is leaving the EU, it's a matter of law, it's about repealing the EU Act and leaving the treaty.

"Once you have registered that you are leaving under Article 50 that is it, you are leaving. All the rest is merely about talk about what government policy should be."

Sir Bill, the Conservative MP for Stone, said it would be totally unacceptable for Britain to leave the EU and then sign up to a deal that meant it was bound by most of its regulations.

"When people talk about soft Brexit, what they are talking about completely contradicts the legitimate decisions that have already been taken.

"They are talking about signing up to a system that means we will still have the European Court of Justice adjudicating on matters of British law.

"If we stayed within the customs union, it would mean every trade deal we struck with countries outside the EU would have to be approved by all 27 members.

"Britain needs to be trading with the rest of the world, we have to trade with America, India, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

"We trade at a massive loss with the European Union, and a profit with the rest of the world. The US administration has said it wants to get a trade deal with the UK signed up soon, and we need to be getting those deals done."

Sir Bill said he believed that pragmatism would ultimately triumph when it came to getting a trade deal between Britain and the EU.

He said governments in France and Germany would not wish to see their manufacturers lose an important export market.

"The countries which have been against a trade deal are, with no disrespect, the smaller countries," he said.

"We are a big country with a very large population, we have saved Europe twice in the last 100 years, and it seems strange why somebody like (EU negotiator) Guy Verhofstadt would want to denigrate the UK in this way."

Sir Bill said he did not think Labour's increased presence in the Commons following this month's election would have any impact on the Government's approach to the Brexit negotiations.

He said Jeremy Corbyn had in the past been a committed eurosceptic, voting with the Tory euro rebels in the 1990s, and had committed to Britain leaving the EU in the Labour manifesto.

"It would be hypocritical in the extreme for him to turn around from that position now," said Sir Bill.

He also said it was extremely unlikely that Tory MPs would bring their own government down.

"The fact was, that even with a very slim majority, John Major was able to force Maastricht through," he said.

"I said that at the time – if we had forced a general election, it would have meant a Labour government under John Smith which would have been even more in favour of a federal Europe, so in the end he was able to force it through.

"It is the same today. I can't see many Conservative MPs wanting to bring the Government down."

Britain on the Brink, a debate featuring Sir Bill Cash and Harry Mount, chaired by Sir Bill's son William Cash Junior will be at St Michael's Church, Upton Cressett, near Bridgnorth on June 25 at 3pm. Tickets are £5.