Liz Truss risked re-opening Conservative Party wounds over Brexit after criticising the government for not moving fast enough to remove EU laws from the statute books.
The former Prime Minister, who lasted just 49 days in office, also used her speech, delivered to a right-wing think-tank in the US, to call Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China “a mistake” and accuse the French president of drawing a “moral equivalence” between China and the West.
Speaking about the extent of EU laws post-Brexit, she said: “I liken it to a situation of getting divorced and still living in the same house as your ex-husband.”
The Government has previously said it is still committed to passing the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which would remove most remaining EU law.
In a Q&A after her speech at the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation in the US, the former prime minister said the world needed to be “sceptical” about promises made by China which she described as “a totalitarian regime”.
She said it was a mistake and a sign of “weakness” to ask for China’s help in ending the war in Ukraine as she hit out at President Macron during a speech focusing on the need to defend western capitalism and freedoms.
Earlier this month, Mr Macron, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, met with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Ms Truss pointed to Russian president Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, and China’s President Xi and “the build-up of armaments in China” and the “menacing” of Taiwan.
“And all this time, what we’ve seen, is we’ve seen accommodation and appeasement by the West of these authoritarian regimes,” she said.
She said later in her speech: “Putin and Xi have made it very clear that they are allies against western capitalism. That’s why I think it was a mistake for western leaders to visit President Xi and ask for him to intervene in seeking a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
“I believe that was a sign of weakness. It’s also why it’s wrong for President Macron to suggest that Taiwan is simply something not of direct interest to Europe. I don’t agree with that at all.
“It is of direct interest to Europe. And I think we should be doing all we can to make sure Taiwan has the support it needs to defend itself.”
