Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith bizarrely insists no deal Brexit would still mean a trade deal with the EU

Iain Duncan Smith said that, if the UK left the EU and
started trading on terms set by the World Trade
Organisation, that would not be the same as having
no trade deal.
The former Tory leader told the BBC "It's a deal it's
not a free trade arrangement it's WTO ."
And the eurosceptic said that the World Trade
Organisation would insist on the EU and UK agreeing
on the main points of the arrangement suggesting
WTO terms would be a kind of trade deal.
“The WTO in Geneva would demand that the UK and
EU sort out all the relevant elements.”
Mr Duncan Smith dismissed suggestions that flights
between the UK and remaining EU countries would
cease in the event of a no deal scenario.
"We dominate the European airline authority," he said
and pointed out that an agreement on flights: "
absolutely has to be in the interests of the European
Union."
Mr Duncan Smith also said the WTO would “go
ballistic” with the EU if it discovered that the EU was
refusing to discuss future trading relationships, he
went on.
“That would damage all the countries outside the
European Union’s trade, so they absolutely have to
reach an agreement with us,” he said.
“It’s utter nonsense,” he said.
But he denied wanting the UK to crash out of the EU
without a deal.
“We would like to have a free trade arrangement,” he
said. “We’ve been partners for 40 years with the
European Union and we would like to see that
arrangement continue smoothly if we possibly can.”
And he emphasised that the main sticking point was
over the divorce bill accusing the EU of "messing
about on the money."
His view was contradicted by former EU
Commissioner Peter Mandelson who was also
speaking on Radio Four's Today programme and
warned not having a bespoke deal in place would be
"disastrous for the country".
The Europhile completely refuted Mr Duncan Smith's
assertions that using WTO rules would be a good
outcome.
He pointed out that the home secretary and
chancellor had already warned about the dangers of
not having a bespoke deal.
He cautioned: "If we were to trade on WTO rules it
would wipe out all the rights to trade we currently
have in the European Union, it would wipe out all the
preferential access that our goods and services
currently enjoy as they're traded in the European
Union and this is our largest export market.
"We would be fighting at the border, it would be a
very considerably more bureaucratic border as well,
jostling for access to the Single Market with every
Tom, Dick and Harry in the rest of the world without
our current rights and our current preferential
access."
Mr Mandelson who was the EU's trade commissioner
from 2004 to 2008 described a no deal scenario as an
"economic disaster for Britain" and a "national
humiliation".
But, despite insisting that he wanted to "listen to the
public" Mr Mandelson refused to support a second
referendum on leaving the EU.
He phrased his answer carefully suggesting he may be
open to another poll in the future saying: "I'm not
going that far this morning."
Instead he said: "I'm certainly going to back any
amendment that says that parliament should have the
final say and a proper final say I don't mean some
cursory vote.
"An act of parliament that gives parliament the power
to sign off on any final deal."

Tweet