This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Brexit: No-deal tariff plan would be 'sledgehammer' for economy, says CBI – Politics live
Brexit: No-deal tariff plan would be 'sledgehammer' for economy, says CBI – Politics live
(32 minutes later)
Hans-Olaf Henkel, the German MEP who is vice chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European parliament, says the best solution would be for the UK to stay in the EU.
He says the commission should help those in the UK who are campaigning for a second referendum.
And it should offer reform on immigration rules. That would make a difference, he says.
He says the EU will never be complete without the UK.
Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, and its candidate to be the next European commission president, is speaking now.
He says Brexit has let down a whole generation of young Europeans.
And he repeats the point Barnier made; the EU can only grant an article 50 extension if it knows what the UK wants. He says “the Brits” must clarify this at the next EU summit.
Brexit was made by populism, by easy answers. But the Brexiters cannot provide any easy answers now, he says.
Barnier is now speaking in English.
People ask if he is disappointed after last night’s vote, he says.
But he says his answer is always the same. The EU remains respectful of the UK, and it will remain calm and united in these negotiations, defending the EU and its citizens.
And that is it. Barnier has now finished.
Barnier says there can be no further assurances to the UK.
What will happen now? Barnier says there will be votes in the Commons on no deal, and on extending article 50.
He says he hopes the UK will eventually agree on a constructive proposal.
The EU needs an answer now, he says.
He says the UK has to explain why an extension should be granted. He says the EU cannot grant an extension until it gets an answer.
They have to tell us what it is they want for their future relationship.
What will their choice be, what will be the line they will take? That is the question we need a clear answer to now. That is the question that has to be answered before a decision on a possible further extension.
Why would we extend these discussions? The discussion on article 50 is done and dusted. We have the withdrawal agreement. It is there.
That is the question asked and we are waiting for an answer to that.
Barnier says the EU cannot grant an article 50 extension until it knows why the UK wants one.
Barnier says the EU is not being inflexible in relation to the Irish backstop out of dogma.
It is a matter of practicalities, he says. It is about protecting the single market.
Barnier says the next stage of the Brexit negotiation, the one dealing with the future trade relationship, will be more important than the current one.
He says if the UK wants an orderly Brexit, then the treaty already agreed is the only available one.
"This treaty is and will remain the only available treaty"EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier says if UK still wants to leave EU in an orderly manner the current treaty is the only one available Latest #Brexit updates: https://t.co/bDw5xCMP3W pic.twitter.com/qamScchBOy
In the European parliament Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is speaking now.
There is a live feed here.
Barnier says last night’s Commons vote just prolongs and makes worst the deep uncertainty about Brexit.
Responsibility for the Brexit decision belongs solely with the UK, he says.
This is from the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
Have just come out of a meeting with Barnier and he is scared of a no deal WTO Brexit. There is also huge pressure on Mrs May, if she demands an extension, to give a firm reason why. There will be no blank cheque for it. I’ll be speaking in the European Parliament shortly.
Boris Johnson tells MPs that MPs will be debating the “very good” Malthouse compromise amendment last night.
Boris Johnson tells MPs that MPs will be debating the “very good” Malthouse compromise amendment last night.
Heading to table a #MalthouseCompromise Plan B amendment with @DamianGreen, @NickyMorgan01 and @Simonhartmp, supported by @Jacob_Rees_Mogg, @NigelDoddsDUP and Iain Duncan Smith pic.twitter.com/LzMbozTinJ
Heading to table a #MalthouseCompromise Plan B amendment with @DamianGreen, @NickyMorgan01 and @Simonhartmp, supported by @Jacob_Rees_Mogg, @NigelDoddsDUP and Iain Duncan Smith pic.twitter.com/LzMbozTinJ
More about the #MalthouseCompromise may be found here:https://t.co/8Fbrf9YRPz pic.twitter.com/FuauVkj2fJ
More about the #MalthouseCompromise may be found here:https://t.co/8Fbrf9YRPz pic.twitter.com/FuauVkj2fJ
Boris Johnson, the Brexiter former foreign secretary, is holding an LBC phone-in.
Boris Johnson, the Brexiter former foreign secretary, is holding an LBC phone-in.
Nick Ferrari, the presenter, reads out a quote from Johnson saying it would be easy to negotiate new trade deals.
Nick Ferrari, the presenter, reads out a quote from Johnson saying it would be easy to negotiate new trade deals.
Johnson says he does not regret this. But only a handful of deals, to rollover the benefits of exiting EU trade deals, have been agreed, Ferrari says.
Johnson says he does not regret this. But only a handful of deals, to rollover the benefits of exiting EU trade deals, have been agreed, Ferrari says.
Johnson claims there is still time to get a better deal from the EU. He says the EU always agrees deals at the last moment. Or the horses change in the final furlong, as he puts it.
Johnson claims there is still time to get a better deal from the EU. He says the EU always agrees deals at the last moment. Or the horses change in the final furlong, as he puts it.
Rees-Mogg says the most likely thing now is the UK leaving on 29 March without a deal.
Rees-Mogg says the most likely thing now is the UK leaving on 29 March without a deal.
But he says people who want to delay Brexit, like Yvette Cooper and Dominic Grieve, want to stop it entirely.
But he says people who want to delay Brexit, like Yvette Cooper and Dominic Grieve, want to stop it entirely.
And that’s it. His LBC interview is over.
And that’s it. His LBC interview is over.
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up from Matthew Weaver.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter and chair of the European Reseach Group, the powerful caucus representing up to 80 or so Conservatives pushing for a harder Brexit, is on LBC now.
Q: Some people are saying Britain has lost its Brexit. Is that right?
Rees-Mogg says he does not accept that. If he did, he would not have voted against the deal last night. He says parliament has already voted to leave the EU.
What MPs voted for last night was opinion, he says. The article 50 legislation and the EU Withdrawal Act were law. They are in a different category.
Q: So if MPs vote for an extension, it will not necessarily happen?
That’s right, says Rees-Mogg. He says it is up to the EU to offer an extension.
Q: What do you expect to happen now?
Rees-Mogg says he expects the motion ruling out no deal to go through. But it does not really change anything, because it is not law.
Rees-Mogg says voting to rule out no deal won’t have legal force.
Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the European Research Group, claimed Brexiters were “all really yearning to be able to vote for” Theresa May’s deal last night.
But he claimed Attorney General Geoffrey Cox’s verdict that the risk of staying in the backstop remained unchanged meant they had to reject it.
“That final paragraph of his advice showing we would not have a lawful mechanism to exit the backstop, really blew up all prospect of us being able to vote for the deal,” he told Today.
Asked what should happen now, Baker said: “We have tabled an amendment related to the Malthouse B compromise. That means you throw three safety nets around exiting without a withdrawal agreement. The first is that you continue to offer plan A, which is that if we had alternative arrangements on the Irish backstop, we would approve the withdrawal agreement. The second is that we would offer to buy the implementation period for the financial settlement in the withdrawal agreement, so they get about £10bn a year and we all get a transition arrangement. And the third is that we take advantage of a wide-range of standstill agreements and arrangements ... and notify that trade preference to the WTO to exit smoothy.”
Nick Boles dismissed the idea as “basically a no deal exit.” He added the EU has made clear that it would not accept such options. “It is incredibly important for all of us to stick to things that actually can be deliver and not to try to come up with new schemes that which simply won’t fly,” Boles said.
Boles said parliament should use any extension to article 50 to “start voting on compromises”.
He added: “We have not been given the chance ever, by this prime minister, to debate and vote on alternative compromises. We need to start doing that next week so the EU sees that we are actually making progress, that we are gripping reality not fantasy.”
Boles said the prime minister was entitled to try to get her deal through. But he added: “What she is not entitled to do is prevent the rest of us from seeing if there are alternatives compromises that could attract the support of a majority.”
David Cameron has urged his successor to abandon her deal and search of “other alternatives” on Brexit.
Speaking to reporters outside his house, he said:
Obviously what needs to happen next is to rule out no deal, that would be a disaster for our country and to seek an extension and I’m sure that’s what’s going to happen next.
What happened last night is that some people who have always wanted Brexit have voted against it again. And this is exasperating for the prime minister and I think she should feel free to look at other alternatives for partnership deals, and the like, in order to solve this problem, because you can’t go on with a situation where people who want Brexit keep voting against it.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, has called for parliament to reach a consensus deal on leaving the EU.
Speaking to the Today programme she called on the prime minister to give MPs a free vote on all of the options out of the current impasse. She said:
There are very very common areas between Labour’s position and the position that has been set out by a number of Tory MPs ... to having a customs union deal and a strong single market deal.
She also appeared to play down the option of a second referendum. Long-Bailey said:
We haven’t ruled out a people’s vote, but our priority is securing a deal, but we also stated that we would keep all options on the table to avoid a damaging Tory Brexit and a no-deal Brexit.
She added:
We need to move the prime minister’s red lines towards a deal that would secure a parliamentary majority. First we need to rule out no deal. Secondly we need to look at the extension of article 50 for a short period of time in order to give us the opportunity to renegotiate a deal.
I’m sure that there will be a number of amendments put forward in the next few days outlining the direction of travel that parliament should take, because it is clear that the prime minister is not capable at this time of trying to find that consensus.
Asked about another vote of no confidence in the government, Long-Bailey said:
Of course it is something that we may consider in the future, but our priority at the moment is looking at ruling out no deal, making sure that we get that extension and we use it wisely to renegotiate the deal going forward.
Tariffs will be slashed to zero on 87% of imports to the UK as part of a temporary no-deal plan to prevent a £9bn price shock to business and consumers, the government has announced today.
But tariffs will apply to certain goods including beef, lamb, pork, poultry and some dairy products to “support farmers and producers who have historically been protected through high EU tariffs”.
MPs will be voting later on Wednesday to reject a no-deal Brexit after a humiliating 149-vote defeat for Theresa May’s deal in the Commons on Tuesday.
The government described today’s announcement as a “modest liberalisation” of tariffs designed to minimise disruption to business and price shock in the supermarkets.
Government to slash tariffs to zero in case of no-deal Brexit
Responding to the tariff regime, CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn told Today:
This tells us everything that is wrong with a no-deal scenario.
What we are hearing is the biggest change in terms of trade this country has faced since the mid-19th century being imposed on this country with no consultation with business, no time to prepare.
This is no way to run a country. What we potentially are going to see is this imposition of new terms of trade at the same time as business is blocked out of its closest trading partner. This is a sledgehammer for our economy.
On the new tariff regime, Barclay told Today it was a “modest liberalisation” of trade.
“This is a modest liberalisation, it is a temporary measure, this is for a short term while we engage with business and see what the real-term consequences are,” he said.
The Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll tweets the details of the new tariffs:
The Tariff Rates just revealed by government pic.twitter.com/11KWXVoUsU
So for clarification - no checks on Irish border in no deal and tariff regime will not apply on goods crossing Irish border. But tariffs would have to be paid on certain goods going from Ireland/EU to U.K. Govt says there will be no checks down Irish Sea, hence smuggling opps.
Steve Barclay (or ‘Steve Brexit’ as John Humphrys called him) is still promoting Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement despite the two crushing Commons defeats.
“The best way of getting Brexit delivered was the vote put before the House last night,” the Brexit secretary said.
Citing a point made by Ken Clarke, Barclay added: “Whatever deal you have you have to have the withdrawal agreement. The EU has been clear on that. And there is nothing in the withdrawal agreement that the Labour party in principle disagrees with.”
His comments suggest the government has not ruled out a third vote on the withdrawal agreement.
Alun Cairns, the Wales secretary, is making similar hints according to Sky News.
As we reported on @skynews last night. Alun Cairns telling me in an interview after the defeat; “I don't think this is the end of the deal necessarily” https://t.co/amlRiVQRIC
Angela Merkel has said that securing EU leaders’ agreement on a Brexit delay up until the end of June will be “easy”, according to senior diplomatic sources.
Attitudes in some of the EU’s capitals towards a possible extension of article 50 have recently hardened, with diplomats complaining that London had been “lazy” and taken a positive decision for granted.
But the German chancellor let it be known at the recent EU-Arab summit in Sharm el-Sheikh that Berlin will not stand in the way, sources have disclosed to the Guardian.
Angela Merkel 'said it would be easy to get EU to extend article 50'
The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, has been put up to face the media today.
He is asked on the Today programme how he’ll vote in the no deal vote. He dodges and says he’ll wait to see what the amendments are. But faced with a choice between no deal and no Brexit, Barclay says he’d favour no deal.
Stephen Barclay says he would prefer no deal to no Brexit.
