Kemi Badenoch says UK is 'doing well' with Brexit

       Brexiteers believe that "pigheadedness" in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is denying the UK Brexit opportunities, particularly around a decades-long controversy in North Africa.

       Senior Conservative politicians are pressuring Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to change UK policy and recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.

       Currently, the UK does not recognise Morocco's claim to the autonomous region which it has centuries-old links with and laid claim to since 1975 when Spain gave up its Sahara colony.

       Several other countries including Germany and Israel have recognised Morocco's claim to the region but the impasse is proving to be a major block to a trade deal for the UK which could open up massive Brexit trade opportunities.

       One MP told Express.co.uk: "I'm afraid this is yet another example of Foreign Office pigheadedness. Refusing to reconsider out-of-date diplomatic positions even though they are clearly harming British interests."

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       READ MORE: Boris Johnson rejoices over Brexit trade deal which will open up Africa to UK

       Sir Liam Fox is one of the Brexiteer pushing for the UK to recognise Morocco's claim to the Western (Image: Getty)

       Among those who are publicly backing Morocco's claim is Lord Hannan, the leading Tory Brexiteer who now leads the Institute for Free Trade.

       He has described the enormous opportunities which are available for the UK if it can strike a new trade deal with Morocco, a plan which was backed by Boris Johnson.

       Lord Hannan said: "Not just scrapping tariffs but creating a digital corridor between Tangier and our ports to reduce paperwork, facilitating investment into the special zones that Morocco is happy to offer exclusively to Britain, and ensuring that our trade policy what we de facto accept (to the fury of Corbynistas), namely Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara."

       He noted that Morocco has made a deliberate effort to reach out to Britain and break its links with the French-speaking world including now making English a compulsory subject in schools.

       Morocco was a French colony until the 1950s but after its earthquake last year chose the UK, not France as its international aid partner in a sign of where it sees its diplomatic priorities.

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       Daniel Hannan is a supporter of the new Morocco free trade deal being proposed (Image: Getty)

       Former Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox recently led a delegation over to Morocco supporting the plans for a new trade deal and the UK to change position on the Western Sahara.

       He has written to Lord Cameron urging him to break the impasse.

       He said: "I reminded Lord Cameron, who is a friend and whose government I was a member of when he was Prime Minister, of Morocco's importance on the multilateral stage, both politically and economically."

       Sir Liam added: "Morocco is a priority country for the UK in economic, commercial and foreign policy terms."

       Meanwhile another Brexiteer Tory, Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski told express.co.uk that "Morocco is a very important ally [for the UK]."

       He said: "The Foreign Office has consistently failed to explain its irrational refusal to recognise the territorial integrity of the whole of the Kingdom of Morocco including Moroccan Sahara.

       "Whilst our main competitors in this rapidly expanding economy like USA Germany Spain France and others have publicly supported the sovereignty of Moroccan Sahara and Morocco’s autonomy plan for this region out Foreign Office continues to drag its feat.

       "Civil servants are now starting to harm British interests in the region as a result of their conduct and therefore their brake on progress will have to be increasingly debated in Commons and beyond."

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       The dispute is being fueled by resistance from the far-left Polisario Front supported by people like former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.

       The separatist group is supported by Morocco's regional rival Algeria.

       After periodic outbreaks of fighting the UN set up its Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara in 1991.

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       Experts have noted that Morocco has made efforts to invest in the Western Sahara region and submitted an autonomy plan to the UN in 2007 which was backed by the US in 2020.

       Retired general Sir Simon Mayall, the Ministry of Defence's Middle East adviser, recently told Royal United Sservices Institute (RUSI): "The Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara remains the only credible, lasting, realistic and constructive solution to the Western Sahara conflict."

       Addressing possible concerns in the FCDO, he added: "The UK’s own principles with regard to self-determination and its overseas territories will in no way be compromised by UK government support for Morocco’s initiative. The UK should support Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara."

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