Brexit warning: EU to unleash onslaught of 'torture weapons' to push UK into stand down

Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform said: "The real torture weapon isn't actually the thing in the Court of Justice, which I don't think will scare Boris Johnson too much.

"The real weapon of torture is the lack of a trade agreement, the economic impact on Britain, the psychological impact on the British economy of there not being any agreement, the impact on financial markets, which will react very, very negatively.

"The impact on the psychology of British businesses, knowing they're being cut off from the largest trading market, permanently cut off.

"The huge prospect of chaos at the borders, friction at the borders, lack of access to the EU single market in any respect, lack of ability to travel easily from one part of Europe to another."

Mr Grant added: "These are the things that the EU is hoping will make British ministers change their minds and say to Boris Johnson, 'hang on a minute, we just don't want to go down this way'."