Jacob Rees-Mogg tells businesses to stop living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ over Brexit
Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has called on businesses to stop living in "cloud cuckoo land" and accept Brexit will mean changes to how they operate.
The Conservative MP was backed up by former Brexit secretary David Davis, who claimed top firms such as BMW should be able to cope with extra hours delays at customs.
The comments were made at the launch of a detailed report by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) setting out an alternative negotiating strategy to the government's ill-fated Chequers proposal.
The IEA's vision would see the UK strike a free trade deal with the EU, as opposed to Britain signing up to Brussels' rulebook on goods.
Read more: IEA urges Theresa May to ditch Chequers for its alternative 'Brexit prize'
Such a plan could see extra customs checks taking place at the UK border, but Rees-Mogg dismissed the impact this would have on businesses.
The North East Somerset MP said: "Six seconds of delay in goods coming in via Southampton, well, you get longer delays when there's a minor traffic jam on the M25 for just-in-time delivery so you have to contextualise this.
"You have to accept the fact we are leaving the European Union and therefore it will be different.
"To try to pretend it will be the same once we've left is cloud cuckoo land, that's not what people voted for."
Sitting alongside him on the panel in Westminster, Davis also suggested businesses could cope with any delays, and it was important not to "exaggerate" the impact of any additional customs checks.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis is backing the IEA's plan (Source: Getty)
Reflecting on BMW's decision to bring a planned maintenance shutdown of its Oxford plant forward to coincide with the day the UK leaves the EU, Davis said: "If they can handle weeks of delay because of maintenance, why can't they handle hours of delay because of an irritating French customs official?"
The IEA report calls on the UK to open free trade negotiations with the US, India and China in bid to put pressure on Brussels in the Brexit talks.
The plan, which has the support of former Brexit minister Steve Baker and former international trade minister Greg Hands, was unveiled just hours before Theresa May chairs a meeting of her Cabinet.
It will be the first get-together of her top team since the disastrous conclusion of last week's Salzburg summit of EU leaders, in which her Chequers proposal was roundly dismissed.
Rees-Mogg urged the PM to ditch her plan in favour of the IEA proposal.
"The Prime Minister is a lady of singular wisdom and therefore is likely to recognise the reality that Chequers doesn't have much support either in this country or abroad and this plan solves all her problems," he said, adding: "With her wisdom and insight I'm sure she will be thinking very carefully about adopting it."