BRIDGWATER business leaders got their chance to quiz MP Ian Liddell-Grainger about all things Brexit this week.

The Conservative MP joined members of Bridgwater Chamber of Commerce for a special business breakfast event held at Victoria Park Community Centre on Friday morning.

Never one to hold back on speaking his mind, Mr Liddell-Grainger said the current situation regarding Brexit was a ‘shambles’ but sought to assure businesses that actually a no-deal option would not be disastrous as he believed the UK would be able to adapt to World Trade Organisation policies reasonably well.

“It will not come as a surprise to many of you that over the years the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition have each others phone numbers and talk regularly but that is not happening as much now and it is not good for the country,” Mr Liddell-Grainger said.

“I think Theresa’s lack of experience negotiating has also been an issue; she would have been better off on relying people who know more about thrashing out deals from legal and business backgrounds, but she is a stubborn, tough lady.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he felt the issue with the backstop in Ireland should be solvable with a bit of common sense.

"Even in The Troubles trade was rarely a problem," he said.

He also said the EU wanted to take much of the financial might of London to another city, but ‘no-one will want to go to Frankfurt, and Paris does not have the capacity’.

The MP felt there would be no benefit to delaying Brexit for further negotiations, saying ‘from what I am hearing from my constituents, people just want us to get on with it’.

If there was a no deal, and the UK adopted WTO polices, Mr Liddell-Grainger said: “We would still be able to trade under a tariff system and would have to get visas, which is what much of the rest of the world does. But people will still want to trade with us. Our accounting system is second to none and we have the Rolls Royce of legal systems.

“I am confident Bridgwater will still thrive as we do the basics of business extremely well, we have good training, our people have a good attitude and we have good jobs.”