Former Brussels Diplomat Says No Deal Scenario "Catastrophic" For Both Sides

22 July 2018, 16:28 | Updated: 22 July 2018, 17:05

A former diplomat in Brussels has a lot of sympathy for Dominic Raab after he said Britain will not pay its divorce bill unless a trade agreement is reached - but warned that a no-deal scenario would be "catastrophic" for both sides.

A former diplomat in Brussels and CEO of UK Trade and Investment, sided with the new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab when he says the UK will not pay £39bn to the EU unless a trade deal is agreed.

Sir Andrew Cahn told Andrew Castle that a no-deal scenario would be "catastrophic" for European Union countries and the United Kingdom, but "it won't happen because the catastrophe would be so big."

"Planes won't fly, there'll be long traffic jams of lorries at the ports, legal contracts won't work, businesses won't know whether they can do business or not, and people will go out of work," he said.

"But the politicians won't allow it to happen, and the markets won't allow it to happen, and it shouldn't happen."

"I think the EU will look at what Dominic Raab said about the £39bn and they will suck their teeth a bit," he said.

"Britain has always been a law abiding country, we've always kept within international agreements, we believe in the rule of law and we've agreed, as a government, that we have legal obligations to pay the £39bn.

"And of course we should pay it."