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Gove says development of Irish border technology should not delay Brexit Gove casts doubt on merits of customs partnership proposal
(about 5 hours later)
Michael Gove has said he would not back any delay to the UK leaving the customs union beyond the transition period to allow new border technology to be developed, as Ireland’s foreign minister said any form of infrastructure or technology on the border would be unworkable. Michael Gove cast fresh doubt on the possibility of a breakthrough in the cabinet customs deadlock, saying there were “significant question marks” about proposals for a customs partnership.
The government has been urged by some MPs, including the former minister Nick Boles, to consider extending the 21-month transition period that will come into force when Britain is due to leave the EU next March to allow more time to develop the technological model. The environment secretary expressed scepticism about the merits of Theresa May’s preferred customs partnership model, saying the proposal had flaws and needed to be tested.
Gove said: “In delay there lies no plenty ... one of the things that we need to do is to crack on,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. Gove indicated he had some sympathy for foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s criticism, calling the proposal“crazy” earlier in the week.
However, the environment secretary also expressed scepticism about the merits of an alternative customs proposal, saying the customs partnership model had flaws and needed to be tested. “Because it’s novel, because no model like this exists there have to be significant questions about the deliverability of it on time,” Gove told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
Theresa May has split members of her warring cabinet into two working groups to thrash out the merits of her two customs proposals. “More than that, the NCP [new customs partnership] requires the British government to in effect act as the tax collector and very possibly the effective deliverer of regulation for the EU.”
Under the prime minister’s favoured customs partnership model, the UK would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU and it would go some way to solving the issue with the Northern Irish border. However, it has been denounced by Brexiters who say it is untested and would force Britain into copying the EU’s product standards and regulations. Brexiters prefer an alternative model, the so-called “max fac”, which uses technology to do customs checks with limited friction on the Northern Irish border.
They prefer the “maximum facilitation” model that relies on technology to minimise border checks, which critics say cannot resolve the Irish border issue and would require lengthy development of sophisticated new technology. Gove admitted cabinet ministers remained conflicted about both proposals, saying “there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.”
“The critical thing is to meet that deadline. My experience in government reinforces my belief that we need to make sure we deliver things at pace,” Gove said. The cabinet’s Brexit subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday but is not expected to emerge with a compromise. A government source suggested the two working groups of cabinet ministers, set up last week to thrash out arguments for both proposals, needed to be given time to work through the two options.
He told Marr he had qualms about the customs partnership model, defending Boris Johnson, who described the plan as crazy in an interview earlier this week. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, expressed some frustration with the deadlock and the counter-briefings. Asked if he was one of the ministers threatening to block the new customs partnership, appeared to be the prime minister’s preferred model, he said: “I’m backing the prime minister. I think that we have to trust Theresa May.”
Gove said the cabinet agreed that neither of these two models was absolutely perfect. “With NCP [new customs partnership], as Boris pointed out, because it’s novel, because no model like this exists there have to be significant questions about the deliverability of it on time,” he said. “More than that, the NCP requires the British government to in effect act as the tax collector and very possibly the effective deliverer of regulation for the EU.” “You can’t iron out every single detail of a negotiating position in public,” he told LBC. “It’s going to be bumpy of course because it’s a different course to the way we were going to go but we’ve got to have some confidence and trust in her.”
Speaking on the same programme, Ireland’s tánaiste and foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said there had been a clear commitment from May that there would be no border infrastructure. He said any backtracking would mean “a very difficult summer for these negotiations if that happens”. Former cabinet minister Stephen Crabb also said MPs were becoming increasingly disturbed by the deadlock. “I am not alone in saying there is a growing concern on the backbenches about how entrenched some of the positions in the cabinet seem to have become,” he told the BBC.
Coveney said: “If we are expecting to get this concluded by the end of October, is it unreasonable for the Irish government to ask for significant progress on a hugely important issue by the end of June, when it is actually factored into the EU negotiating guidelines that there would be a reassessment by the end of June?” “The vast majority of Conservative MPs don’t see this question of a customs union as some kind of ideological cage fight.” He also added cabinet ministers who refused to budge may find that “parliament will be making the decisions for them.”
He said the Irish government was seeking a political solution that allowed for regulatory alignment in a way that prevented a need for border infrastructure. Under the customs partnership model, the UK would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU and its backers believe it would go some way to solving the issue with the Northern Irish border.
On Sunday, May attempted to calm tensions with a Facebook article setting out three tests that a new customs arrangement would need to meet. She said no hard border in Northern Ireland, nor a border at the Irish Sea, were acceptable, and that any deal must “protect our precious union and honour the agreements that were reached in the historic Northern Irish peace process”. Brexiters prefer the “maximum facilitation” model that relies on technology to minimise border checks, which critics say cannot resolve the Irish border issue and would require lengthy development of sophisticated new technology.
The prime minister said agreements must create as little friction as possible for trade – an acknowledgment that some new obstacles may be created. The agreement also must not constrain Britain’s ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries around the world, May said, comparing it to Labour’s policy of forging a new customs union with the European Union. On Sunday, Gove said he would not back any delay to the UK leaving the customs union beyond the transition period to allow new border technology to be developed.
May said she wanted to restate her case “amid all the noisy debate and technical discussions”. Johnson has been excluded from the two working groups examining the merits of both options, as has the chancellor, Philip Hammond, who is most in favour of the customs partnership. “In delay there lies no plenty,” he said. “The critical thing is to meet that deadline. My experience in government reinforces my belief that we need to make sure we deliver things at pace.”
EU members (plus Turkey, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino) trade without customs duties, taxes or tariffs between themselves, and charge the same tariffs on imports from outside the EU. Customs union members cannot negotiate their own trade deals outside the EU, which is why leaving it – while hopefully negotiating a bespoke arrangement – has been one of the government’s Brexit goals. See our full Brexit phrasebook.
Ireland’s tánaiste and foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said there had been a clear commitment from May that there would be no border infrastructure. He said any backtracking would mean “a very difficult summer for these negotiations if that happens”.
Though the EU has been widely reported to have rejected both of May’s customs options, Coveney indicated a softening of approach to the customs partnership, saying he was open to a solution “as long as it achieves the outcome of there being no physical infrastructure on the island of Ireland and no related checks or controls.”
Coveney said the Irish government “don’t take our lead from Boris Johnson in relation to Brexit. We take our lead from the prime minister. She has signed up to very clear commitments.”
Johnson has been excluded from the two working groups examining the merits of both options, as has the chancellor, Philip Hammond, who is most in favour of the customs partnership.
Gove will examine the customs partnership alongside Liam Fox and David Lidington, while David Davis will examine the “max fac” model with Karen Bradley and Greg Clark, who have expressed scepticism about that model’s negative effects on business and on its workability at the Northern Irish border.Gove will examine the customs partnership alongside Liam Fox and David Lidington, while David Davis will examine the “max fac” model with Karen Bradley and Greg Clark, who have expressed scepticism about that model’s negative effects on business and on its workability at the Northern Irish border.
Though the majority of cabinet ministers in the working groups have been tasked with examining their least-preferred options, sources earlier this week suggested most ministers’ positions had become more entrenched.
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, called the rift “a farcical situation”.
“Nearly two years after the referendum the cabinet is fighting over two customs options – neither of which frankly are workable, neither of which are acceptable to the EU.”
He said Labour proposed a combination of a comprehensive customs union and a close relationship with the EU single market. “Nobody credible suggests you can achieve no hard border without it,” he told Marr.
Michael GoveMichael Gove
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
IrelandIreland
BrexitBrexit
European UnionEuropean Union
EuropeEurope
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