Brexit secretary David Davis will today seek to reassure businesses about Brexit, saying Britain would not become “a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction”.
In a keynote speech in Vienna today, Mr Davis will deny ministers are preparing a programme of sweeping deregulation and say the UK wants to maintain “close, even-handed co-operation” with EU regulatory authorities even after it has withdrawn from the bloc.
Addressing an audience of Austrian business leaders, he will argue a common commitment to high regulatory standards should ensure trade with the EU remained as “frictionless as possible” after Brexit.
Ministers have previously warned the UK would be forced to adopt a different “economic model” if it was unable to secure a satisfactory deal with the remaining 27 member states.
However Mr Davis will insist the government would continue its track record of high standards outside the EU and had no intention of engaging in a new “race to the bottom”.
“I know that for one reason or another there are some people who have sought to question that these really are our intentions,” he will say.
“They fear that Brexit could lead to an Anglo-Saxon race to the bottom, with Britain plunged into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction.
“These fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing – not history, not intention, nor interest.”
Mr Davis will point to Theresa May’s commitment to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights, chancellor Philip Hammond’s support for a stable European banking system and environment secretary Michael Gove’s “crusading zeal” on animal welfare as examples of the UK determination to lead a “race to the top”.
His intervention comes amid growing calls from EU leaders for Britain to spell out exactly what kind of agreement it is seeking with Brussels.
Mr Davis will say it is the interests of both sides to be able to continue to trust each other’s regulations and the institutions that enforce them after Brexit.
“Such mutual recognition will naturally require close, even-handed co-operation between these authorities and a common set of principles to guide them,” he will say.
“This will be a crucial part of ensuring our future economic partnership is as open and trade remains as frictionless as possible.
“I am certain that is in the interests of both sides and, because of that, I am certain that we can get this right.”
Mr Davis will say that when one side or the other wished to change its regulations, it would be essential to ensure it did not lead to the creation of “unnecessary barriers” to trade.
“Take a car produced here in Austria to be exported to the UK. Currently, that vehicle only has to undergo one series of approvals, in one country, to show that it meets the required regulatory standards and those approvals are accepted across the European Union,” he will say.
“That’s exactly the sort of arrangement we want to see maintained even after we leave the European Union.”
The speech is the thid made by senior Cabinet figures to set out the government’s road map for Brexit.
Further speeches will be delivered by Cabinet Office minister David Lidington (on the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and international trade secretary and disgraced former defence secretary Liam Fox (on how the UK will forge new trade deals).
It follows criticism of the prime minister for failing to spell out Britain’s Brexit aims.
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