As the cabinet committee on EU strategy meets to argue over the divorce terms Britain should offer, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said:

“It is ironic that cabinet ministers are meeting to discuss divorce terms with the EU when many of them seem more interested in gaining a divorce from each other.

“There is very little time left to guarantee free trade with the rest of Europe. After the car industry last week, now the aerospace industry is warning of £1.5bn of extra costs to its sector if we don’t secure a future free trade deal which maintains the freedoms of a customs union.

“While the Conservative cabinet talk divorce, British companies are being courted by continental governments to move jobs abroad, and many report they are in active discussions to do so.

“It is extraordinary that almost 18 months on from the referendum, and with the clock ticking ever more loudly, the government  still isn’t in a position to begin substantive negotiations about our future trading arrangements.”