Liam Fox has stood by claims that securing post-Brexit trade deal would be the “easiest in human history” as he claimed trade talks would only be complicated if the EU chose to “punish Britain” for leaving.

The International Trade Secretary, an ardent Brexiteer, urged European leaders to prioritise the future prosperity of their citizens over pursuing political objectives when drawing up a trade agreement for when Britain leaves the bloc.

Dr Fox also said that Britain could only come up with a figure for the so-called divorce bill after Brexit once the shape of an overall deal had become clear – and insisted that crashing out of the EU without a deal was “not exactly a nightmare scenario”.

It comes after European leaders gave Theresa May a minor boost by agreeing to scoping work for future trade talks, although they made it clear that Britain must make further concessions on its divorce bill to allow progress.

Dr Fox has been mocked for his buoyant statement on trade prospects, which he made in an interview in July, particularly after Brexit Secretary David Davis later told the Commons “nobody pretended Brexit would be easy”.

Asked if he regretted his comments, Dr Fox told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “No I don’t. The point I was making was that it is unique because, as I said, in most trade deals you are trying to reduce a distance but in the European Union trading agreement we are already at the point where we have no tariffs and we have complete regulatory equivalence. That has never happened before.”

He went on: “I don’t think they are difficult in terms of the trade law or the trade negotiations themselves. The difficulty is the politics.

“In other words, how much does the European Commission and European elite want to punish Britain for having the audacity to use our legal right to leave the European Union, that’s the thing.

“What will the price be for the prosperity of European citizens of that decision?

“I would hope that economic sense would dictate that we put the prosperity agenda of the whole of the European continent in a global context at the top of that agenda, not ever closer union, in other words the drive by the Commission towards their political objective which has a near-theological level.”

Dr Fox also said it was “completely wrong” to suggest that Brexiteers were bluffing over the prospect of a no-deal outcome, as the Prime Minister had not mentioned it herself when she spoke to EU leaders during last week’s summit in Brussels.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said Britain was “heading for no deal” because Ms May could not control her own party.

“What we may be seeing is the Europeans trying to make it clear that it is not their fault that there are these difficulties,” Ms Thornberry told The Andrew Marr Show. “The intransigence does not come from their side, it comes from Theresa May’s side.”

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She added: “I think the reality is the intransigence is on Theresa May’s side, because she doesn’t have the strength or the authority to be able to control her backbenchers, let alone her cabinet.

“And I think we are heading for no deal. And I think that is a serious threat to Britain and it is not in Britain’s interest for that to happen. We will stop that.”