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Robert Oulds was speaking days after both UK negotiator David Frost and EU opposite number Michel Barnier admitted an agreement was no closer to being struck, with Mr Barnier once again remarking: “The clock is ticking.” However, Robert Oulds, director-general of the Bruges Group, believes any further efforts are futile, and that Britain should now devote its collective energy to leaving on December 31 with no deal in place.

Britain is now an independent country and we do not have to do what they demand of us any longer

Robert Oulds

He told Express.co.uk: “With what the EU is demanding, the price is just too high.

“The European Union is not being reasonable and we need to walk away and reject their demands, and Boris Johnson needs to do that.

“Britain is now an independent country and we do not have to do what they demand of us any longer.”

Mr Oulds, who was also speaking in the wake of an Express.co.uk online poll indicating a huge majority in favour of walking away, said the UK could not afford to let any of its rules, regulations, tax policies, competition policies or environmental policies to be dictated by Brussels.

He said: “We should make those decisions ourselves.

“Brexit is about democracy and being open to the rest of the world.

“The European Union has had their chance – we now need to walk away and if they want to call us, fine we can pick up the phone and talk.

“But it is over now and we need to reject what they are demanding.”

He also pointed to the efforts of International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to line up deals with countries around the world as an example of the UK’s outward-looking philosophy.

Mr Oulds said: “Of course, trade will continue with the European Union – there is a whole host of international agreements, the WTO, the World Customs Organisation so trade will still go on on terms which are far better.

“The European Union is actually denying us this because of their intransigence really and their inability to realise that countries outside the EU do not have to do what they want.

“There are opportunities overseas and that is what Brexit is all about.

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“It is all about Britain being a democracy and being open with the rest of the world.”

Mr Oulds added: “There are countries which are lining up to do trade with us.

“They want our goods, they want our services and they will open up their markets to Britain without making demands on the UK that would undermine our democracy and tie us into the European Union’s rules.

“Other countries are approaching it with the economics coming first, whereas the EU seems to have a political agenda to tie up its neighbours.”

Mr Oulds said it was imperative to UK avoided any deal which “shackled” Britain to the bloc’s rules and regulations.

He explained: “The cost of an EU deal would not only be that we would tie ourselves to the failing slow-growth or no growth European model, it will also mean we would not have the flexibility to make agreements with other countries.

“According to the IMF 90 percent of global growth will happen outside of the EU.

“That is where we need to be, that is where the opportunities lie.”

Pointing to the EU’s refusal to compromise, first with David Cameron prior to the referendum, then with Theresa May, and finally with current Prime Minister Mr Johnson, he said: “The European Union had its chance with Britain and it has blown it, it has failed.

“It has not addressed any of the problems to do with the eurozone and its own dreadful situation with jobs and growth.”

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