Alok Sharma caught out in nightmare interview over Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit plan

A senior Tory minister has been forced to admit that Boris Johnson’s ‘Australian-style’ Brexit plan is code for no deal.

In a nightmare interview, Business Secretary Alok Sharma was asked 11 times to clarify what an Australian trade deal with the EU actually means.

He eventually admitted that it was a matter of “semantics” – confirming it was Tory code for a no-deal Brexit.

The Prime Minister started touting the prospect of mirroring Australia’s trading relationship with the EU at the beginning of the year.

In reality, Australia does not yet have a free trade deal with the EU – although they are in negotiations.

Both sides trade on World Trade Organisation terms, which mean tariffs are slapped on imports and exports of goods.

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Pressed on what the PM means by an Australian deal with the EU, Mr Sharma told LBC: “The Australia deal is the deal that you have with countries where you are predominately working on a WTO (World Trade Organisation) basis.”

Asked if the “Australia deal” was another term for a no-deal situation, Mr Sharma said: “It depends, you can use the phrase ‘no deal’, but the point is there is a deal.”

Asked again, he said: “It’s a question of semantics at the end of the day, sure.

“There are two very clear approaches to this – we can either go down the route of doing the sort of arrangement that the EU has with Australia, the other is that we can do it down the Canada route.

“Now that has been our preference.”

Asked whether the Government should stop using the term Australia-style deal, Mr Sharma said: “No I don’t think we should stop saying Australia. People will understand very clearly what it means.”

Labour MP Neil Coyle accused the Government of treating the public as “stupid”.

He tweeted: “The Government thinks people won’t spot the failure to get the ‘oven-ready’ deal, or any deal at all.

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“Ministers think people don’t realise how far away Australia is, or know that most of our trade is done with our immediate neighbours.

“The Government thinks people are stupid.”

And Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband said: “A ‘No Deal’ might just be semantics for Alok Sharma, but it’s not semantics for the manufacturers, farmers and many businesses across the country who have been clear that it could have serious economic consequences for them.

“The government is trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes to pretend No Deal doesn’t mean No Deal.

“The Business Secretary should be listening to businesses and pulling out all the stops to deliver the deal ministers promised was oven ready, not dismissing their concerns.”

Trade negotiations between Brussels and the UK have floundered in recent days, with Downing Street calling time on talks on Friday.

If a deal is not agreed by the end of the Brexit transition period in December, the British businesses faces similar imposition of tariffs on goods.

Brexit negotiators Lord Frost and Michel Barnier are expected to speak on Monday after Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the door was “ajar” for trade talks to resume.

But businesses are being urged to step up preparations for a no-deal exit as the prospect of an agreement hangs by a thread.