The UK’s former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, has warned the European Union that it is making a “massive miscalculation” thinking that Britain is not prepared to leave it without a withdrawal agreement, i.e. a so called hard Brexit.

Davis handled the UK’s Brexit negotiations with the EU until early July 2018 when he quit the job disgruntled by Prime Minister May’s Brexit blueprint, the controversial Brexit White Paper of the British government, accusing her of “giving away too much too easily”. He has been replaced by Dominic Raab.

The former Brexit Secretary’s warning for the EU comes in the wake of UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s forecast that there is a 60% chance of a no-deal Brexit, and comments by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney that the chances of a hard Brexit are “uncomfortably high”.

“This has great scope for being a massive miscalculation on the part of the EU that could end up with no deal by accident,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

It’s certainly not the intention of the EU to have a no-deal Brexit but they are misjudging us at the moment. The UK Parliament does not want no deal but it’s certainly not going to be pushed around by the European Parliament,” Davis added.

“I’ve always thought that no deal is better than a bad deal and while there will be border issues and so on… it would give us more freedom. I’m still of the view that we have got two things on our side – we have got our own currency and we are masters of our own destiny in a way that EU member countries are not,” the UK’s former Brexit Secretary elaborated.

“This is a negotiation and it will go to the edge, but we must not panic about this. They have got lots to lose too, and specific countries and specific sectors have got large amounts to lose. As we get closer to the brink, there will be internal pressure within the EU,” Davis concluded.

 Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019, which is supposed to be followed by 1.5-year-long transition period, until December 31, 2020.

However, a transition period would only be in place if any kind of a withdrawal agreement, or at least a joint Brexit declaration (the criticized “blind Brexit” option) is made.

The EU insists that a withdrawal agreement, more commonly known as a Brexit deal, be negotiated by October 2018 to allow the British and European Parliaments sufficient time to vote on it.

(Banner image: David Davis on Twitter)