Nigel Farage hails Boris Johnson for taking Britain ‘to the right place’… but says EU deal will leave Brexiteers wanting
NIGEL Farage has hailed Boris Johnson for taking Britain "to the right place", but claims his Brexit deal will disappoint.
The Brexit Party leader told LBC listeners that Brexiteers should be ready for compromises on certain aspects - such as fishing.
And he admitted the Brexit trade deal is likely to end up lacking the full punch he would have wanted.
He said: "As a Brexiteer, I know I'm not going to get everything I want. That's just not possible.
"There are going to be all sorts of compromises on fishing, I'm sure.
"But have we turned the corner? Are we heading to the right place? Yes.
"For the first time, I think we've potentially got the upper hand in these negotiations."
And he brushed aside worries over leaving without a trade deal, adding: "If that happens, so what frankly.
"Business will adapt, we all adapt to changed circumstances.
"I would say there's a 25 per cent chance of us leaving with no trade deal. I wouldn't put it at more than that."
Earlier this month Mr Johnson unveiled his 10-year blueprint in a mission to unite the country.
The first of his bumper package of bills was the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - which went straight through the Commons.
Why is fishing such a big EU issue?
Fishing accounts for just 0.1 per cent of our economy but is one of Brexit’s most emotive battlegrounds.
In the 2016 referendum campaign, rival boats skippered by Nigel Farage and Sir Bob Geldof skirmished on the Thames.
When we joined the EEC in 1973, UK-flagged vessels landed a million tons of seafood a year. Our fishermen argue they were short-changed on quotas fixed since 1983.
By 2016 British ships were netting 550,000 tons of seafood, while foreign boats caught 800,000 tons in our waters. Half of all Belgian fish landings and 90 per cent of Danish and Dutch-caught herring are from our waters.
Three-quarters of fish caught by British boats is exported. Those exports would be slapped with tariffs in the event of No Deal.
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France’s biggest fishing port, with 120 trawlers and 150 processing plants — would be decimated without British fish.
He told MPs after the Queen's Speech: "After the dither, after the delay, after the deadlock, after the paralysis and the platitudes, the time has come for change and the time has come for action. And it is action the British people will get."
But Mr Farage urged him not to rush into signing a deal with bad terms, despite praising his promise to break free of bloc rule's after December 2020.
Britain is set to leave the EU on January 31 after MPs opted by 358 - 234 to deliver the new deal.
But the EU may need to ask Mr Johnson to extend the Brexit transition period, the new boss of the European Commission has since said.
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The Withdrawal Agreement struck with the EU allows the so-called "implementation period" to be extended by up to two years.
A Government spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has been clear that we will not be extending the Implementation Period.
“Both the EU and the UK committed to agreeing a future partnership by the end of 2020 in the Political Declaration and have agreed to work with great energy to achieve this.”
