WATCH: Jacob Rees-Mogg attacks ministers over 'very unsatisfactory' transition agreement
2 min read
Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused the Government of giving away “almost everything” for little in return in the Brexit transition deal struck with Brussels.
The influential Tory Brexiteer said the deal, which David Davis heralded as a "significant step", would only be acceptable if it led to a “proper Brexit” at the end of 2020.
The leader of the European Research Group said the agreement “gives away almost everything and it is very hard to see what the government has got in return.”
"I make no bones about it, I think this transition agreement is a very unsatisfactory agreement - not just on fish,” he told the BBC’s Newsnight.
"The only thing that makes it acceptable is the hope that it is leading to a proper Brexit at the end of 2020.
"This agreement gives away almost everything and it is very hard to see what the Government has got in return."
He added: "Somebody said to me the Government had rolled over but had not even had its tummy tickled."
His comments come amid fury within Tory ranks on the agreement to give Brussels continued control on access to British fishing waters during the two-year period..
A host of Scottish Tories blasted the agreement, including Ruth Davidson and Moray MP Douglas Ross, who said it would be “easier to get someone to drink a pint of sick” than to sell it as a success”.
The intervention comes amid a report in The Telegraph that Mr Rees-Mogg is set to lead dozens of Eurosceptic Tory MPs in throwing fish into the Thames from a boat in protest at the alleged “sellout”.
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