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Former MP for South West Hertfordshire David Gauke believes the Prime Minister is wasting his time trying to convince the EU to keep trading with the UK and should actively seek no deal at the end of the transition period this year, as the EU may not back the Prime Minister if things go wrong if the EU does not get the deal it wants at the end of the talks. This comes as the government revealed the UK is prepared to walk away from trade talks with the bloc as early as June if the talks reach a stalemate. He posted on Twitter: "If a deal is reached, the PM will have to sell it. He'll be very good at doing that but he'll have ownership of it. He will be blamed if things go wrong (and for lots of people, it will). If there's no deal, the consequences can be blamed on the intransigent EU."

Mr Gauke also told Conservative Home: “In terms of getting preferential access to EU markets, the best one can hope for is an unambitious, thin free trade agreement. “Such an agreement will be better economically than a departure on WTO terms but not that much better. “Another way of putting it is that the economic downside of failing to get a deal is not that much because we have already accepted a great deal of pain as it is. “The second consequence is that if ‘recovering our political and economic independence in full’ is, to use David Frost’s word, ‘fundamental’ to Brexit then it is very hard to find a compromise. “Any deviation from such a position opens up a political vulnerability. The political pain of compromise gets greater every time someone in Number 10 makes the fundamentalist case.”

Boris Johnson is being urged to scrap his Brexit trade talks

Mr Gauke added that the EU may not support the Prime Minister if he demands too much for the UK. He said: “There is a further difficulty with reaching a deal. Any deal that Boris Johnson gets is one that he will sell with gusto. “It will be a fabulous deal, the best possible deal, a triumph. “This has its advantages but it also means that the Prime Minister will have ownership of the consequences of the deal. If it turns out to be less than a triumph, there is no one else he can blame. The buck will stop with him.” FOLLOW OUR LIVE UPDATES HERE:

3.54pm update: Eurozone recession panic: Farage boasts how crumbling EU markets vindicate Boris' Brexit Nigel Farage took a swipe at the crumbling European economies as proof that Brexit was the right path for Britain. The Brexiteer suggested that the leading EU countries, namely Germany, Italy and France, were to blame for dragging down the eurozone. Speaking to Fox Business, Mr Farage said as Europe slipped towards a full-blown recession Britain was surging ahead and ready to strike new trade deals. The Fox Business host said: “It looks like the rest of Europe, not Britain, is heading into recession.” Mr Farage responded: “That’s right. Italy is in real trouble, Germany is turning down, and France is economically and politically very unstable. “There are very bad days ahead for the eurozone, I have no doubt about that. “On the other hand, it is a great time to have Brexit and break free!”

3pm update: Is Boris right to negotiate EU access that allows French boats into UK waters? VOTE Tensions between the government and the European Union continued this week, with France pressuring Boris Johnson to drop his red lines on foreign access to British waters and No10 hitting back saying it was up to the UK to decide who can enter. Do you think the Prime Minister should compromise and allow EU boats into UK waters? Vote in Express.co.uk's poll. 1.50pm update: Adonis lashes out at Brexit Britain Ardent remainer and former Labour front bencher Lord Adonis has hit out at the latest Government shenanigans. Tweeting this afternoon he wrote: “In the last fortnight the Chancellor has resigned, the Home Office imploded, airports policy disintegrated & the prime minister is holed up in a country house while emergencies on flooding and flu virus grip the country. "Brexit Britain." 1.06pm update: EU's hardline Brexit tactics backfire: Brussels exposed after 'overplaying their hand' The EU “needs a trade deal more than the UK does,” according to a leading US investor and Brexiteer Mitchell Feierstein. The former Brexit party candidate revealed why he thinks the EU are playing a “dangerous game” in taking a hard line in trade talks. He pointed to the crumbling eurozone economies as a sign that the UK could dominate the trade talks this year. Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, has edged towards economic recession for the past year and suffered its worst growth rates since the 2008 financial crisis. Mr Feierstein explained: “It seems the EU is infallible and is flexing its muscles to say to Britain this is what you have to do. “But we don’t really have to, just look at the cash flows going back and forth. “We are in a much stronger bargaining position and Germany’s economy hasn’t been this bad for a decade They are in the tank.”

12.44pm update: Brexit news: Ex WTO chief warns of 'muscular trade posturing' as UK puts 'war paints on' Brexit trade negotiations are due to begin on Monday after nearly three years of talks between the UK and the European Union to secure a withdrawal deal. Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to striking an agreement by December 2020 but insisted he is ready to adopt an Australia-style deal should the British Government and Brussels fail to find common ground. Former World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy noted an Australia-style agreement would effectively mean there is no trade arrangement between the UK and the EU27 and new tariffs and quotas would have to be adopted to exchange goods between the two sides. 11.30am update: Boris Johnson's ONE-word response to Barnier's demands sends shockwaves to Brussels Boris Johnson has vowed not to give an inch when Brexit trade talks with the EU get underway in March. Earlier this week, the EU already set out its priorities ahead of the formal start of the talks on Monday. However, speaking to reporters yesterday, the Prime Minister was questioned on whether he would give up some of the UK’s red lines during the talks in order to reach a deal. The reporter asked: “It is a negotiation though, you will have to make some concession, do you accept that?”

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