Germany’s finance minister warns Theresa May she will not be taken seriously by world leaders if she breaks a G20 agreement and slashes taxes to create a tax haven after Brexit
Wolfgang Schauble said Mrs May's claim that the country will emerge from Brexit as a "truly global Britain" would be undermined if she followed through on her warning
GERMANY’s powerful Finance Minister faces a Brexit backlash – after mocking the Pound and warning Britain over tax cuts.
Wolfgang Schauble yesterday said Theresa May would “undermine the UK’s world position” if it seeks to hit back at the EU by slashing corporation tax after Brexit.
He barked: “The UK has always agreed and the G20 summit in Antalya said we will not use taxation of companies as a matter of instrument for competition, that has been agreed.
“A truly global economy has to stick to what has been agreed globally."
Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum he separately appeared to poke fun at the Pound’s slide on currency markets.
When an interviewer spoke about a fall in Sterling, then corrected herself to say she meant the Turkish Lira, Mr Schauble quipped: “They’re similar.”
The comments followed incendiary claims by both the PM and Chancellor Philip Hammond that Britain could slash tax corporation tax to remain competitive if the EU seeks to “wound” the UK through Brexit.
The Chancellor yesterday reiterated that Britain would “find ways” to compete if it failed to agree a “comprehensive trading relationship”.
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He said: “Our first obligation of Government is to make sure that our people are able to maintain their standard of living.”
France yesterday insisted it had no intention of “punishing” Britain over Brexit after Boris Johnson’s remarks on Wednesday.
The Foreign Secretary said he feared French President Francois Hollande wanted to inflict “punishment beatings” on Britain.
But French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the claim was an attempt to divert consequences away from the consequences of Brexit.
He said: “This is not about ‘punishing’ the United Kingdom, that is not France’s stance.” It was a “smokescreen to allow those who supported Brexit to play down the impact on people, because they can clearly see the negative consequences.”
In an interview with German paper Welt am Sonntag, the Chancellor said Britain would do "whatever we have to do" and would not "lie down wounded".
"We will change our model and we will come back and we will be competitively engaged," he added.
Mrs May told an audience at Davos today that the UK was "open for business" despite Brexit, and she would fight to help those "left behind"; by globalisation.
She insisted the historic vote to leave the EU did not mean the UK turning its back on the world – but instead seeking out new trading partners and allies around the globe while maintaining its friendship with European neighbours.
Voters who opted for Brexit in last year’s referendum were choosing to “leave the EU and embrace the world”, and Britain would as a result become “even more globalised and internationalist in action and in spirit”, she said.