JACOB Rees-Mogg has evoked the spirit of Margaret Thatcher as he dismissed suggestions of a Brexit extension, telling MPs: "No, no, no."
The Commons Leader said the UK Government remained committed to the UK fully leaving the EU by the end of December, insisting such a move was in the best interests of everyone.
He then looked to former prime minister Baroness Thatcher's "no, no, no" speech, which was delivered in 1990 amid calls for greater central control in Europe.
Asked to confirm the Government's plan, Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Ensuring we leave the transition period successfully in full by the end of this year is one of the Government's and, even more importantly, the British people's highest priorities.
"An extension to the transition period would be neither in the UK's nor the European Union's interests.
"Both parties want and need to conclude a deal this year to complete the transition period.”
The Somerset MP argued an extension to the transition period would bind Britain into future EU legislation without it having any say in designing it but still having to foot the bill to payments to the EU budget.
"We must be able to design our rules, it's in our best interests, without the constraints of EU regulation," declared Mr Rees-Mogg.
He added: "To quote Margaret Thatcher: will we have an extension? No, no, no."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel