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A Tory Cabinet minister has claimed Britain's trade deal with the EU will be "one of the easiest in human history".

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox made the bizarre boast even though the EU's chief Brexit negotiator has flatly branded many of Britain's demands "not possible".

Dr Fox also said Britain "can of course survive with no deal", contradicting dire warnings by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, that no deal would be a "very, very bad outcome".

Brussels trade tsar Michel Barnier has repeatedly criticised the UK's ambitions and alleged slow pace ahead of four days of negotiations, which end in a joint press conference with Brexit Secretary David Davis this afternoon.

Yet Dr Fox - one of the most ardent Brexiteers in government - appeared unfazed.

"If you think about it, the free trade agreement we will have to come to with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: AFP)

"We're already beginning with zero tariffs and we're already beginning at the point of maximal regulatory equivalence - our rules and our laws are exactly the same.

"The only reason we wouldn't come to a free and open agreement is because politics gets in the way of economics."

Dr Fox's comments come despite the Brexit campaign being based on politicians saying Britain should free itself from the EU's laws.

He said last year: "If you cannot make your own laws, if you cannot control your own borders, you are not an independent, sovereign nation and I want to live in an independent sovereign nation."

But the government has now admitted it has "obligations" to the EU, and Business Minister Lord Prior told a private meeting Britain will seek "the softest of soft Brexit”, according to The Sun.

Remain-backing Labour MP Helen Goodman scoffed: "Liam Fox is either badly briefed or deliberately lying."

Dr Fox also admitted the possibility of a transitional deal as Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

(Image: AFP)

And he refused to comment on whether he or Theresa May will remain in their jobs after the Prime Minister warned no minister is "unsackable".

"I wouldn’t predict anything in the future," he said. "In politics you never know what’s going to happen next."

He said there was nothing to be "gained" from leadership speculation, adding: "To be diverted into personality issues I think doesn't either do the Conservative party... or the country any good."

Dr Fox is calling for a rejection of post-Brexit protectionism during a visit to Switzerland later today.

He is using a speech in Geneva to urge further liberalisation of the services economy, and will state that free trade agreements are not the only way to remove business barriers.

The minister will meet the World Trade Organisation's director general Roberto Azevedo during the visit to discuss the UK's legally binding tariffs and levels of market access for trade in goods and services.