Former Bank of England (BoE) governor Mervyn King has savaged a European Union withdrawal agreement signed by the British government, saying it is nothing but a “humiliating submission”.
King said under the Brexit deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May, Britain will become a fiefdom of the EU and the continental bloc would have always a veto power on ending the miserable situation.
Elaborating on his vassalage notion, King highlighted the so-called backstop option in the Brexit agreement that could be triggered after two years of transition period in a bid to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Many believe the UK and EU could never reach a mutual consensus for bilateral trade, leaving the EU with no option but to trigger the backstop and continue to extend it each year.
King said the British parliament would force the UK into a humiliating submission if it approved May’s Brexit deal on December 11.
“If this Parliament bequeaths to its successors the choice between a humiliating submission and the abrogation of a binding international treaty, it will not be forgiven — and will not deserve to be,” he said in an article for the Bloomberg.
The senior economist branded the deal the “worst of all worlds” and said it was the “result of incompetence of a high order”.
“The Withdrawal Agreement is less a carefully crafted diplomatic compromise and more the result of incompetence of a high order,” he said, adding, “I have friends who are passionate Remainers and others who are passionate Leavers. None of them believe this deal makes any sense.”
He said the chaos that could follow the current problematic situation for Britain over Brexit would be comparable to appeasement with Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the era of economic chaos of the 1970s.
The comments come as the current BoE governor, Mark Carney, has passionately defended the Brexit deal, saying it is the only option that would protect Britain against harsh economic consequences of leaving the EU with no deal.
Carney again reiterated his warnings about a no-deal Brexit scenario on Tuesday, saying it would push the price of food across Britain to record highs.