Brexit minister Steve Baker
British Prime Minister Theresa May needs to change course on Brexit but she should remain as leader, former junior Brexit minister Steve Baker said on Tuesday.
"I don't really mind who is prime minister as long as we deliver a brilliant exit from the EU," he told Sky news. "This exit from the EU is going to set us for many, many generations. It needs to be done right."
He added: "I should be very, very happy if Theresa May changes the policy, stays prime minister and delivers an exit from the EU.
European companies face potential tariffs of as much as 14 billion pounds ($18.28 billion) a year if the Britain and the European Union fail to reach a trade agreement, Britain's trade minister Liam Fox said on Monday."If we got no agreement with the European Union that would be very harmful to European trade too. European businesses would have to pay tariffs to access the UK's market, possibly to the tune of as much as 14 billion pounds a year," Fox told BBC TV."That is quite a big business tax to apply to European businesses. It is everyone's interest that we reach an agreement and do it as quickly as possible." ($1 = 0.7660 pounds)'Don't bully us', Britain takes new combative tone to Brexit talksSterling rises despite fears of Tory Brexit conflict
'No-deal Brexit would cost European firms up to $18 billion'
Britain cannot be bullied, Brexit minister Dominic Raab said on Monday, sharpening the government's criticism of the European Union for taunting Prime Minister Theresa May and souring difficult Brexit talks.May's ministers have come out one by one at their party's annual conference in the city of Birmingham to warn the EU that they will embrace leaving without a deal if the bloc fails to show "respect" in the talks to end Britain's membership.Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU in the country's biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, May faces growing criticism over her plans to leave not only in her governing party but also in Brussels.Party unity is on ministers' minds, encouraging the faithful to direct their anger at the EU rather than at their prime minister, who some eurosceptic campaigners accuse of leading Britain towards a "Brexit in name only".Britain's FTSE treads water, eyes on Tory conferenceOther ministers, such as finance minister Philip Hammond, have moved to point out that leaving without a deal could hurt Britain's economy, the world's fifth largest.Raab said he had called on the EU to match the "ambition and pragmatism" Britain had put forward with May's Chequers proposals, named after her country residence where an agreement with her ministers was hashed out in July."Unfortunately, that wasn't on display in Salzburg," he said, describing a summit last month in the Austrian city where EU leaders rejected parts of the Chequers plan."Our prime minister has been constructive and respectful. In return we heard jibes from senior leaders and we saw a starkly one-sided approach to negotiation."Sterling rises despite fears of Tory Brexit conflict"What is unthinkable is that this government, or any British government, could be bullied by the threat of some kind of economic embargo, into signing a one-sided deal against our country's interests," Raab said.Instead of the much-hoped-for staging post, the Salzburg summit has become a byword for a sharp deterioration in the atmosphere of the talks, when British government officials felt May was ambushed by the other EU leaders over Brexit.A tweet by European Council President Donald Tusk showing him offering May a selection of cakes with the comment: "A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries" "certainly had an impact", one official said."GET SERIOUS"With no divorce deal and a standoff over the shape of any future relationship, the possibility of a "no deal Brexit" has increased, with some businesses preparing for what they see as a worst case scenario.Britain's Hammond says UK can cope with no-deal BrexitBut one source close to the government said there was now a sense that the EU had realised that the tone set in Salzburg was "perhaps a bit off" and, behind the scenes, conservations between the two sides were more constructive.Hammond, for one, was keen to set a more positive tone."The mood is undoubtedly that people want to do a deal with the UK," he told BBC TV."Clearly there has been a hit to the economy through the uncertainty the Brexit process has caused. Many businesses are sitting on their hands frankly waiting to see what the outcome of this negotiation is before confirming investment plans."UK's Hammond says EU is in the mood for a Brexit dealBut his softer line won less support at the conference than those adopted by Raab, trade minister Liam Fox and foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, who on Sunday compared the EU with the Soviet Union which could turn into a prison from which not only Britain would want to escape.It was Raab, winning a standing ovation for his story about his father's journey from then Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion, who summed up Britain's new combative stance."The EU's theological approach allows no room for serious compromise," he said. "If the EU want a deal, they need to get serious."
'Don't bully us', Britain takes new combative tone to Brexit talks
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party began gathering for its annual conference on Saturday, bitterly divided over her plans to leave the European Union which threatens to derail any deal and put her own job in doubt.Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, May has said talks to clinch a divorce deal are at an impasse.She has said her "Chequers" proposals are the only viable option, but EU leaders have said parts of them are unacceptable and many Conservative lawmakers have threatened to vote down a deal based on May's blueprint.The uncertainty has led to business concerns that there will be no deal, potentially leading to tariffs and border delays.UK business minister optimistic of Brexit deal after Toyota warningJapanese carmaker Toyota on Saturday warned that leaving without an agreement would hit its production and jobs would ultimately be at risk."Of course we want a deal," Business Secretary Greg Clark told BBC radio, saying May and her negotiating team were determined to secure a deal and there were grounds for optimism."That's why the next few weeks are going to be important to go through issue by issue what's being proposed to address whether there are any residual concerns that the negotiators have and with a cool head and recognising the common interest in this, resolve them one by one."A summit of EU leaders last week ended in a blunt dismissal of May's proposals, which they said would fail to resolve arguments over the land border of Northern Ireland, in the UK, with the Irish Republic, in the EU, one of the main sticking points to a deal.EU 'intransigence' is reason why no deal Brexit is real prospect: N.Ireland's DUPIn an interview with the Sun newspaper, Britain's Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said the Irish issue was being used by some in the EU Commission "for political purposes", but said he was open to suggestions from the bloc."I think they want a deal," he said. "We aren’t pretending there aren’t alternative proposals that we would look at. But we need credible responses for the proposals we have set out or credible alternatives, and we haven’t seen them yet."SHADOW OF BORISAs Conservative lawmakers and party members began arriving in Birmingham, central England, for what is expected to be a fractious party conference which starts on Sunday, many have said the Chequers plans are dead and should be torn up.Leading Brexit hardliner and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who quit over the issue, called on Friday for a free trade agreement with the bloc, saying the current proposals would leave Britain in "enforced vassalage" to the EU.Boris and Theresa punchbags help Londoners vent their Brexit rageJohnson, the bookmakers' favourite to succeed May, declined to answer directly whether he would rule out a leadership challenge.While May and government ministers continue to express confidence that a final Brexit deal can be agreed, they have also insisted no-deal would be better than a bad deal.However, Toyota became the latest high-profile business to warn that leaving the world's biggest trading bloc without any trading agreement could add costs and cripple output at plants which rely on the just-in-time delivery of tens of thousands of components."If we crash out of the EU at the end of March the supply chain will be impacted and we will see production stops in our factory," said Marvin Cooke, managing director of Toyota's Burnaston plant, which produced 144,000 vehicles last year.Earlier this week other carmakers in Britain including BMW, McLaren and Honda said they had triggered some contingency plans, such as certifying models in the EU, redrawing production schedules and stockpiling parts.Jaguar Land Rover, Britain's biggest carmaker, has warned it does not know whether its plants will be able to operate in six months' time."The additional burden of import and export cost would add permanent costs to our business," Toyota's Cooke said. "It would reduce our competitiveness. Sadly I think that would reduce the number of cars made in the UK and that would cost jobs." 
At conference, British PM May faces party divided by Brexit