The Foreign Secretary said opponents ‘didn’t appreciate the steel at the heart of that lady’ as he urged Brussels to get serious and give proper consideration to the PM’s Chequers proposals
JEREMY Hunt has warned the EU not to “underestimate Theresa May” after her Brexit plan was blasted at the Salzburg summit.
The Foreign Secretary said opponents did not “appreciate the steel at the heart of that lady” as he urged Brussels to get serious and give proper consideration to the Prime Minister’s Chequers proposals.
And he called for calm over the current impasse over getting an agreement done - claiming there was always going to come a point in negotiations "where everyone was looking into the abyss".
Mr Hunt backed his boss’ resolve and warned EU leaders and doubters in the UK "underestimating Theresa May is one of the biggest mistakes that you could make right now".
Speaking to ahead of a UN meeting with fellow diplomats, said: "Negotiations require two parties to engage seriously, that hasn't been happening and Britain is not going to keep coming back with more.
"We have put on the table some practical proposals, which mean that we can honour the spirit and letter of the referendum and reassure businesses that they can have the frictionless trade that they want.
“They're sensible proposals, we now need some engagement from the EU.
"At this stage in the negotiations it was always going to be like this, there was always going to be a moment where everyone was looking into the abyss, but now what we need is calm heads to prevail.
"We need people to look at the very practical proposals that the Prime Minister has put on the table and I think when they look at them they realise that actually this is a very sensible way to deal with all the different tensions, all the different trade-offs."
The Foreign Secretary also batted off suggestions Mrs May was humiliated in Salzburg summit, where a number of EU leaders publicly rebuffed her plans.
He said: "I think that she stood up for Britain and what she did was she made it clear that she has a bottom line and they needed to hear that.
"They can see now that they have someone who has deep principles, always treats people with the greatest of courtesy but never mistake British politeness for British weakness.
“Don’t underestimate Theresa May, I think what’s happening at the moment is after that very difficult general election maybe some people didn’t appreciate the steel at the heart of that lady and we are led by someone very tough and very resilient and now I think people in Europe are beginning to realise the same.”
Mr Hunt's comments came as Jeremy Corbyn sat down with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels to discuss the Brexit talks.
Along with shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader said he set out the views of the party after they altered their policy at this week’s annual conference.
Mr Corbyn told reporters afterwards: "We are obviously not negotiating. We are not in government, we are the opposition.
"But he [Mr Barnier] was interested to know what our views are and the six tests we have laid down by which we will hold our government in future."
