David Frost tells EU: British divergence just ‘beginning’

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LONDON — Brexit Minister David Frost warned the EU that British plans to ditch its rules were just starting.

The Cabinet minister said the U.K. needs to “reform fast, and those reforms are going to involve doing things differently from the EU,” adding: “If we stick to EU models, but behind our own tariff wall and with a smaller market, we obviously won’t succeed.”

He listed the plans Britain has put in progress: revamping the regime for agricultural subsidies; reviewing retained EU laws; planning a new approach to state aid and procurement; and liberalizing issues like gene editing, transport, medical licensing and devices, artificial intelligence and more.

“This is only the beginning,” Frost told a Center for Policy Studies conference in central London. “We must keep challenging ourselves. It is all too easy to get captured by the interest groups and the lobbies. We don’t have time for that. The world is not standing still. No-one owes us a living. Earning one is now fully in our own hands.”

In his speech closing the conference, Frost said divergence was a “national necessity,” noting: “This project has already begun — though I would be the first to admit there is a lot more to do.”

Source: Politico