'Get up off your knees!' Lord Lawson demands PM ends 'demeaning' Brexit negotiations with Brussels

  • Tory grandee Lord Lawson delivered scathing assessment of PM's Brexit talks
  • Accused Mrs May of 'losing nerve' and putting Britain in an 'humiliating position'
  • The PM defended her divorce deal with the EU in the Commons yesterday  

Theresa May has been accused of 'losing her nerve' and 'demeaning' Britain by bowing to Brussels' demands in Brexit negotiations.

Tory grandee Lord Lawson launched a furious attack on the PM saying she had put the country in an 'humiliating' position by begging the EU for a trade deal.

Urging a drastic change in tactics after Mrs May made a slew of concessions to secure a divorce deal last week, the former chancellor said: 'We must get up off our knees. Enough is enough.'

The scathing assessment came after the premier defended her controversial agreement in the Commons yesterday.

Tory grandee Lord Lawson launched a furious attack on the PM saying she had put the country in a 'humiliating' position by begging the EU for a trade deal (file picture)

Tory grandee Lord Lawson launched a furious attack on the PM saying she had put the country in a 'humiliating' position by begging the EU for a trade deal (file picture)

Mrs May insisted the £39billion divorce bill showed the UK was taking 'responsibility' and meant the taxpayer would soon see 'significant savings' that could be pumped back into key public services

Tory Eurosceptics have been generally keeping their powder dry until the shape of the government's proposed trade deal becomes clearer.

But there are fears that Mrs May has already committed the UK to 'soft' Brexit with a vow to mirror some EU rules in order to prevent a hard Irish border. 

Some MPs also voiced alarm at the prospect of paying a divorce bill to the EU of around £39billion, although Mrs May has insisted no money will be paid if there is no deal. 

The government is desperate to paper over the cracks at least until after the crucial EU summit, when the bloc's leaders will decide whether to approve the start of trade talks. 

But delivering the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture at London's Carlton Club last night, Lord Lawson smashed the fragile truce.

The peer, who has been urging the PM to leave the bloc with 'no deal' and revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms, said the divorce deal was 'just about acceptable so far as it goes'.

But he added: 'We find ourselves today quite unnecessarily as a supplicant, in a humiliating state of cringe, begging for what is both unnecessary and unattainable – a posture which would have been anathema to Margaret Thatcher.

'The time has come to call an end to this demeaning process. We must get up off our knees. Enough is enough.'

Lord Lawson, who was Chancellor under Thatcher, said the government had 'allowed ourselves to become bogged down in the fruitless quest for a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, wasting precious time and making concession after concession to try and achieve one'.

The PM and Jean-Claude Juncker struck the deal on Friday (pictured) but there are fears it is already unravelling

The PM and Jean-Claude Juncker struck the deal on Friday (pictured) but there are fears it is already unravelling

Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured in the Commons yesterday) was sent out to try and clarify his claim that the painstakingly-assembled package was merely a 'statement of intent' and not 'legally enforceable'

Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured left) and Boris Johnson watched in the Commons yesterday as Mrs May defended her deal

'It is fruitless essentially because the EU is determined that we should not get anything that can be presented as a good deal, as that might, either now or in the future, encourage other members to follow suit.

'The provisional agreement that Mrs May secured last Friday is just about acceptable so far as it goes. 

'But let us be quite clear. The UK's regulatory autonomy, post-Brexit, must be unfettered. It is an essential attribute of national sovereignty, which is what Brexit is all about.'

Lord Lawson said Mrs May seemed to have 'lost her nerve' and 'allowed herself to be manoeuvred into imagining that no trade deal would be a disaster'. 

'This is manifest nonsense. It is also the cause of most of her current difficulties,' he said.