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Leadsom 'sticking in government' to fight May's customs plan Brexit: Theresa May's plan under siege from across Tory party
(about 2 hours later)
Theresa May’s attempts to get her Brexit deal through cabinet this week are facing another hurdle after the leading Conservative Brexiter Andrea Leadsom said she was “sticking in government” to make sure the UK did not end up trapped in a customs arrangement. Theresa May’s Brexit plan is under siege from across the Tory party as she attempts to overcome the final sticking points with Brussels in time to push it through a critical meeting of her cabinet ministers on Tuesday.
The Commons leader’s remarks follow suggestions that about 10 cabinet ministers are opposed to the prime minister’s idea for an independent exit mechanism that could allow the UK to quit a temporary customs arrangement if Brexit talks collapsed. As time to strike a deal runs out, leading Brexiters have told the prime minister they remain deeply opposed to her idea for an exit mechanism that could allow the UK to quit a temporary customs arrangement if Brexit talks collapse.
Leadsom’s rejection of such a key feature of May’s plan, which would give the EU a joint-say in the UK’s departure, raises the prospect of yet further resignations in the days ahead as the prime minister attempts to win her cabinet’s backing. Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader and a prominent Eurosceptic, said she was “sticking in government” to make sure the UK did not end up trapped in a customs arrangement, warning May she would struggle to get her plans past MPs.
Cabinet sources suggested they thought disgruntled ministers would stop short of quitting over the exit mechanism plan, but even if they were “bounced” into agreeing to the deal, May would still face a serious challenge getting it through the Commons. May also faces a growing rebellion from the remainer wing of her party with rumours that four more pro-Europe ministers are on the brink of resigning after the departure of the transport minister Jo Johnson last week.
One former cabinet minister told the Guardian it was a question of “when and how many go, rather than if”, while other prominent Tory remainers claimed they were aware of a several ministers “who are hanging on by their fingertips”.
As the prime minister struggled to keep her Brexit plans – and her party – on track, her chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, was in Brussels on Sunday trying to thrash out the final details of the withdrawal agreement before Tuesday.
EU diplomats have cautioned against over-optimism about a breakthrough this week with the legal text said to remain “fluid”. Sources suggested negotiators on both sides had agreed it would be impossible for the UK to unilaterally exit its backstop on Northern Ireland, a key Brexiter demand.
A review mechanism involving a joint committee, with European court of justice oversight, allowing May the ability to claim that her all-UK customs union backstop was not permanent, is likely to be the best the government can expect.
The talks are now focusing on EU demands on “level playing field” commitments, over competition and state aid, as well as social and environmental protections, to ensure UK businesses are not able to undercut European industry.
The UK has already said it is open to non-regression clauses in a future trade deal that would prevent it from lowering standards. Brussels is demanding “dynamic” alignment, which would force parliament to “cut and paste” EU regulations as they come in after Brexit, without giving Britain any say.
The Guardian has learned that EU member states are insisting on having time to scrutinise this part before it is made public. One senior diplomat said: “We cannot be left in the dark on this now, it is too important.”
UK government sources attempted to play down expectations that negotiators would reach agreement in time for the cabinet meeting. If they fail, there will not be an emergency EU summit in November and the prime minister will have to press ahead with “no deal” preparations in case negotiations ultimately falter.
May is expected to face anger from cabinet Brexiters over plans for either a mutual review mechanism that could allow the UK to quit a temporary customs arrangement if Brexit talks collapsed, or an independent body overseeing the UK’s departure.
Yet cabinet sources suggested that disgruntled ministers would stop short of quitting over the exit mechanism plan. Even if they were “bounced” into agreeing to the deal, May would still face a serious challenge getting it through the Commons.
Leadsom told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I am working towards getting a deal that does not require the UK to be stuck, trapped in a customs arrangement. I’m sticking in government to make sure that’s where we get to in the end.”Leadsom told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I am working towards getting a deal that does not require the UK to be stuck, trapped in a customs arrangement. I’m sticking in government to make sure that’s where we get to in the end.”
She added: “The UK cannot be held against its will in a customs arrangement. It must be capable for the United Kingdom to decide to leave that customs arrangement and it cannot be something that the European Union can then hold us to.She added: “The UK cannot be held against its will in a customs arrangement. It must be capable for the United Kingdom to decide to leave that customs arrangement and it cannot be something that the European Union can then hold us to.
“And, frankly, it’s because that would be to then fail to fulfil on the will of the people expressed in the referendum and I very much doubt that we would get it through parliament.”“And, frankly, it’s because that would be to then fail to fulfil on the will of the people expressed in the referendum and I very much doubt that we would get it through parliament.”
The prominent leaver also rejected the option of an independent body overseeing the UK’s departure from the mechanism after the EU suggested this would have to be enforced by the European court of justice Cabinet Brexiters have pushed for a unilateral route, with the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, the first to say publicly the power to leave the backstop – the UK’s insurance policy if talks fail – should rest with the “sovereign” British government.
Cabinet Brexiters have pushed for a unilateral exit mechanism, with the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, the first to say publicly that the power to leave the backstop should rest with the “sovereign” British government. The education secretary, Damian Hinds, said the EU would not accept that plan. “If you have too hard a line about saying, ‘well, we must just have a totally unilateral exit, or there’s an absolutely fixed, hard end date’, that is very, very unlikely that is going to be negotiable with the other side,” he said.
The education secretary, Damian Hinds, warned the EU would not accept the UK being able to end the backstop alone. “If you have too hard a line about saying, ‘well, we must just have a totally unilateral exit, or there’s an absolutely fixed, hard end date’, that is very, very unlikely that is going to be negotiable with the other side,” he said. He urged an alliance of Conservative hard Brexiters and the DUP, who have said they will join forces to vote down May’s withdrawal plans, to “think about the alternatives”, saying there would be “trade-offs” in any deal.
The cabinet minister, who backed remain, urged an alliance of Conservative hard Brexiters and the DUP, who have warned they will join forces to vote down May’s withdrawal plans, to “think about the alternatives”. The latest plan under discussion is believed to include the option of pushing ahead with a “successor agreement” that would set out the full trading relationship between the EU and UK by late 2020, and extending the transition period if needed.
As the prime minister struggled to keep her Brexit plans on track, Hinds said there would be “trade-offs” in any deal and the final agreement would not give all sides everything they wanted. As a last resort a UK-wide backstop would kick in, with Northern Ireland aligned more closely with single market rules to avoid a hard border, inevitably prompting a showdown with the DUP, who oppose any trade border in the Irish Sea.
“It is not necessarily going to be something everybody is going to think is absolutely perfectly what they want,” he told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show. “But that’s the nature of these things. There are some trade-offs.” The prime minister also faces growing pressure to press the button on her no deal preparations. Gen Sir Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff, told the BBC the military “stands ready to help in any way we can” in the event of no deal.
He added: “They need to think about what the alternatives are as well. It is no good just not liking individual aspects. If you’re going to take that view, you have got to have in mind a realistic, viable, deliverable alternative. I think people are going to be getting behind this deal and saying ‘yeah, let’s get on with it’.”
May also faces a growing rebellion from the remainer wing of her party with rumours that four more pro-Europe ministers are on the brink of resigning after the departure of the transport minister Jo Johnson, who quit on Friday calling for a second referendum.
It comes after Steve Baker, the deputy of the European Research Group (ERG) of hard Brexit Tory MPs, and Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, said they would oppose any agreement they thought threatened the union and could lead to a trade border in the Irish Sea.
“We share the prime minister’s ambition for an EU free trade agreement, but not at any price, and certainly not at the price of our union,” they wrote. “If the government makes the historic mistake of prioritising placating the EU over establishing an independent and whole UK, then, regrettably, we must vote against the deal.”
May also faces pressure from Tory Europhiles. The former cabinet minister Justine Greening called on Tory MPs to block the plan. “The parliamentary deadlock has been clear for some time. It’s crucial now for parliament to vote down this plan, because it is the biggest giveaway of sovereignty in modern times,” she said.
The arch-Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg called on the prime minister to change tack, throwing his weight behind a plan to leave without a deal next March but pay £18bn and follow EU rules so the UK could negotiate as a “third country” with Brussels.
“It is time for convinced Brexiters like me to compromise. So, at this late hour in the negotiations, we would like to make a new, generous offer to break the deadlock, to achieve a ‘no deal plus’. It would cost us money but it would finally dispel the ‘crash out’ Project Fear nightmare scenarios.”
BrexitBrexit
European UnionEuropean Union
Foreign policyForeign policy
Damian HindsDamian Hinds
ConservativesConservatives
Democratic Unionist party (DUP)Democratic Unionist party (DUP)
Andrea LeadsomAndrea Leadsom
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