Boris Johnson called for a free trade deal between the UK and China today as he rounded off his week-long trade mission to the Far Eastern economic powerhouse.
The Mayor said that if the European Union was unable to break its deadlock with China on trade then he would push for Britain to go it alone.
In a speech to a mainly expatriate business audience in Hong Kong he also predicted the UK would soon overtake Germany as Europe’s largest economy.
His proposal will be met warmly by Eurosceptic Tory MPs who argue that Britain should have more independence over its trading agreements.
Mr Johnson said: “We need a proper thorough-going free trade agreement, that’s what we need, and if the EU won’t do it, then we’ll do it in our own way. Free trade would bring greater prosperity in both Britain and China and we should embrace it.
“It would mean better access for British projects to Chinese markets, access that would bring huge benefits to London’s economy, creating jobs and growth.”
However, it was unclear whether the Chinese, despite their historically difficult relationship with Brussels over trade, would welcome a bilateral deal with the UK when the EU represents the world’s largest trading area.
EU leaders are due to begin a fresh round of trade negotiations with China after narrowly avoiding a trade war earlier this year over EU tariffs on Chinese solar power panels.
They Mayor’s chief economic adviser, Dr Gerard Lyons, told the Standard: “We never play to our strengths, we don’t have ambition, we need to set the bar really high.
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“Government needs to do the things the Mayor has been doing in London which is that you create an enabling environment for international businesses to invest in the UK.”
In a question and answer session with his audience, Mr Johnson was quizzed over his future ambitions. He joked that his tenure at City Hall had “more or less glutted my appetite for power”.
He added: “We all have a shelf-life in this game. All politicians are possessed with a satanic optimism and belief that you go on forever. When you look at the life span of politicians very rarely do they continue to give really good value after more than eight years.
“Some of them go stark staring bonkers, as you all know.”
In an interview with LBC radio later, he agreed that David Cameron, who is due to visit China, should bring his whole Cabinet with him — as Germany chancellor Angela Merkel did on a previous trip.
