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Cabinet is united on Brexit trade strategy, insists Amber Rudd No 10 rules out customs union with EU
(about 3 hours later)
Statement comes after claim of ‘dream team’ challenge to Theresa May’s leadership over customs union Statement comes after ministers contradict each other and claim of challenge to Theresa May’s leadership over issue
Rajeev SyalRajeev Syal
Sun 4 Feb 2018 13.00 GMT Sun 4 Feb 2018 20.18 GMT
Last modified on Sun 4 Feb 2018 17.15 GMT First published on Sun 4 Feb 2018 13.00 GMT
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Amber Rudd has attempted to quell threats by Brexiters of a challenge to Theresa May’s leadership following reports that Eurosceptic MPs are getting ready to move against the prime minister if she tries to keep the UK in a customs union. Downing Street has ruled out involvement in a customs union with the European Union amid confusion over government policy as Theresa May prepares for a crucial week of talks.
After claims that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg could form a “dream team” to stop the prime minister’s alleged plan, reported in the Sunday Times, the home secretary said the government would come forward with proposals that would command support across the House of Commons. After the exposure of divisions between ministers over the UK’s future relationship with the EU, an official source said: “It is not our policy to be in the customs union. It is not our policy to be in a customs union.”
“I have a surprise for the Brexiteers, which is the [cabinet] committee that meets in order to help make these decisions is more united than they think,” she told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show. The statement went further than May who, on Friday, refused to rule out involvement in a customs union when questioned during her visit to China.
“We meet in the committee. We meet privately for discussions. I think that we will arrive at something which suits us all. There will be choices to be made within that, but we all want the same thing, which is to arrive at a deal which works for the UK.” The development will anger remainers who have clung to hope that Britain will strike a deal with the EU which allows a close relationship with the EU after Brexit.
The damaging row has flared up after the prime minister did not rule out an arrangement that sees the UK retain its membership of the European Union Customs Union, which would limit Britain’s ability to reach free-trade agreements with non-EU countries, but failed to say what she thought should happen. But it will soothe the fears of Conservative Brexiters who have been threatening a leadership challenge if May moves towards an agreement with the EU that restricts the trade deals the UK can be seek with third parties.
Tensions are running high before a crucial week for Brexit, during which the prime minister and key cabinet ministers will meet over two days to hammer out details of a final deal that can keep all Tory factions on board. The clarification came on the eve of a Downing Street visit by the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and as officials in Brussels prepared to begin talks on the transitional arrangements.
Asked about a customs union, May told Sky News on Friday: “What I want to do is ensure that we have got the best possible trade arrangements with China and with other countries around the world once we have left the European Union. I do want to do those free-trade agreements. There is more trade that we can do even before we get to those free-trade agreements.” Key cabinet colleagues will meet on Wednesday and Thursday to decide the details of the government’s policy regards a customs union.
The Sunday Times reported that Johnson had told plotters he would be ready for a future contest and said “the cavalry is coming” to block a customs union plan when the Brexit cabinet committee meets this week. It is understood that Johnson does plan to argue against a customs union this week, but has no plans to challenge May and still publicly backs her. The Downing Street source claimed that a customs union was entirely different to a customs arrangement, which would allow the government to strike trade deals with countries outside the EU.
Some Brexiter MPs have confirmed to the Guardian that they are hoping that, at some point, the foreign secretary will form a team with Gove, the foreign secretary, alongside Rees-Mogg, the leading figure in the Economic Research Group (ERG). It is understood that Rees-Mogg has distanced himself from reports of a pact with Gove and Johnson. The source also claimed that there had been no change in policy, saying the statement iwas a reiteration of policy outlined in a paper published in August.
Asked by the Guardian if he would serve in a cabinet with Gove and Johnson or if he had been urged to do so by colleagues if the prime minister keeps the UK in a customs union, Rees-Mogg said: “The story is news to me. No one had suggested this to me.” Last week, Brexit advisers were reportedly considering whether the UK could strike a customs union deal with the EU that would cover just trade in goods.
Rudd acknowledged that a deal would probably involve some form of customs arrangement or partnership with the EU, but said May had an open mind as to how that could be achieved. “We want frictionless trade at the border, we want to make sure that there is no border on the island of Ireland, and we want to make sure that we can do trade deals outside of the European Union. That is the deal we are looking for,” she said. The source spoke shortly after the home secretary, Amber Rudd’s forecast on Sunday that the UK would negotiate a customs arrangement with the EU negotiated a customs with the EU was contradicted by Dominic Rabb, the Brexi-supporting housing minister.
“We need to have this wider agreement. I don’t know how far that will go over the next few weeks, but I hope the government will be give the space to try and achieve that.” Asked about a possible customs union on Friday, May refused to rule it out, telling Sky News: “What I want to do is ensure that we have got the best possible trade arrangements with China and with other countries around the world.”
Despite Rudd’s claim of a united cabinet, her forecast that the UK would negotiate a customs arrangement with the EU was contradicted by a fellow minister less than half an hour later. Dominic Raab, the Brexit-supporting housing minister, said: “I do not think that we will be in any form – at least as conceived in international trade practice – of customs union, because if we were we would have our hands tied while negotiating trade deals with other parts of the world, whether it is Brazil or China or India. Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show, Rudd, who campaigned to remain in the EU, said May would consider a customs arrangement with the EU.
“But at the same time, we want frictionless trade with the EU, so there will be important negotiations on the technical detail,” he told Sunday with Paterson on Sky. “She has an open mind on it. We published a document last year saying how we would do it and we proposed either a customs arrangement or a customs partnership. Those are both alternatives we could look at,” Rudd said.
Rudd’s intervention came as Bernard Jenkin, the chair of an influential select committee, launched a fresh attack on Philip Hammond, accusing him of pursing his own policy on Brexit. The chancellor angered Brexiters when he suggested at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Britain’s relationship with the EU might only change “very modestly” after leaving. The home secretary, who sits on the Brexit subcommittee, also dismissed claims of a plot to oust May by Brexiters, saying that the government is united: “I have a surprise for the Brexiteers, which is the committee that meets in order to help make these decisions is more united than they think.”
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Jenkin said it was now time for all ministers to get behind May and support the agreed government position. “She can only command a majority in parliament on her present policy,” he wrote. “Nearly half David Cameron’s MPs voted leave, despite his patronage and pleadings. There would have been few remain Tories if he had advocated leave. Minutes later, Raab told the Sunday With Paterson show on Sky: “I do not think that we will be in any form, at least as conceived in international trade practice, of customs union, because. … we would have our hands tied while negotiating trade deals with other parts of the world whether it is Brazil or China or India.”
“Her MPs will back her, because we are overwhelmingly at one with the majority of the British people who now want a clean Brexit and an end to the present uncertainty. It is time for all her ministers to back her too and to end the confusion they are fomenting in government.” May has avoided a full discussion in the Brexit subcommittee on the issue because of the sensitivities involved, sources said.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, said last week it was very difficult to see how staying in a customs union would allow the UK to have an independent trade policy after Brexit. The Sunday Times reported that Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, had told plotters he would be ready for a future contest and said “the cavalry” was coming to block a customs union plan when the committee meets this week.
It is understood thathe plans to argue against a customs union in Downing Street this week but still openly backs May.
The paper also claimed that Johnson, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, and Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg have been urged to form a “dream team” of Brexiters to take over from May’s administration.
Rees-Mogg played down the suggestion. “The story is news to me, no one had suggested this to me,” he said.
MPs from both sides of the Tories’ Brexit divide have told the Guardian that the prime minister is partly to blame for the internal crisis by failing to spell out what she wants from this week’s crucial meetings.
One said: “Both sides – pro-Brexit and remain – still think it is all to play for because the PM has not said what she wants. She is sowing division and bad headlines through another dither.”
The Labour MP Pat McFadden said the Downing Street statement on Sunday evening appeared to confirm that a revolt of rightwing Tory Brexiters has beensuccessful.“The last week has been bad for our democracy. Now we know it hasbeen bad for our economic interests too. Time after time the interests of right wing nationalism have trumped the economic well being of the public.“The question is whether there is a parliamentary majority to take a less destructive and ideological path.”
Conservative leadershipConservative leadership
Trade policyTrade policy
BrexitBrexit
Amber RuddAmber Rudd
ConservativesConservatives
Foreign policyForeign policy
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