Britain is a “waning country” and too small to stand alone on the world stage, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has claimed in a withering assessment of the UK’s exit from the EU.
Rutte, who has emerged as a key player in the talks over the past two years, also warned in an interview that the UK looked to be sliding off the “precipice” towards a “devastating” no-deal Brexit.
“Who will be left weakened by Brexit is the United Kingdom,” he said. “It is already weakening, it is a waning country compared to two or three years ago. It is going to become an economy of middling size in the Atlantic Ocean. It is neither the US nor the EU. It is too small to appear on the world stage on its own.”
Rutte, who also claimed the Dutch would replace the UK in the bloc as the pre-eminent voice for free trade, has been regularly consulted by Theresa May on progress in the Brexit negotiations.
The Netherlands is one of the EU member states that will be most affected by the barriers to trade that will emerge after the UK leaves the bloc, although it has been the beneficiary of some relocations by big businesses.
Figures released last week by the Dutch investment agency revealed 42 companies had relocated to the Netherlands in 2018, citing Brexit as a reason, resulting in the movement of 1,923 jobs.
Asked whether a Brexit deal was likely, Rutte said in an interview with European media outlets, including the Spanish newspaper El País: “My impression is that the ball is heading towards the precipice and everyone screams to stop, but nobody does anything to stop it, at least, from the British side.”
He said of the Irish backstop, which has proven to be the most contentious of issues, that Brussels had no intention of trying to use it to trap Britain in a customs union with the EU.
The backstop, under which Northern Ireland would stay in the single market and the whole of the UK would share a customs territory, is to come into force should a future trade deal or alternative arrangement be unable to guarantee the avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Rutte said: “Some British parliamentarians say that we want to trap them in a permanent limbo. But it is not true. The EU is interested in moving to the next phase as soon as possible and starting a new relationship with the United Kingdom.
“But given May’s efforts to renegotiate the Irish safeguard, I do not know how this will end and if we can avoid a hard Brexit. It would be devastating for the UK.”
Rutte was speaking after a speech in Zurich on Wednesday, in which he highlighted that the “chaos” of Brexit showed “there’s no such thing as splendid isolation”.
UK MPs will debate the next steps in the Brexit talks later on Thursday. Theresa May has asked the Commons to approve a motion that “reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this house on 29 January”.
Tory MPs in the Eurosceptic European Research Group, chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg, are threatening to rebel as the Commons had expressed both its support for “alternative arrangements” to the backstop and for no deal to be avoided.
It has been reported that up to 50 Tory MPs could abstain or vote against the motion, delivering another defeat for the prime minister. A Labour amendment is also seeking to force the government to return to parliament by the end of the month to hold a vote on its Brexit plan.
