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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/06/the-guardian-view-on-trade-with-the-eu-not-just-politics
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| The Guardian view on trade with the EU: not just politics | The Guardian view on trade with the EU: not just politics |
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| Tue 6 Feb 2018 18.30 GMT | |
| Last modified on Tue 6 Feb 2018 22.01 GMT | |
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| The insurgency on the Tory backbenches is turning into open warfare. The irreconcilable Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg is now the strong favourite to replace Theresa May. And although no one can yet foresee the precise sequence of events that might precipitate a challenge, the threat of a coup has so incensed Anna Soubry, the former business minister who has emerged as one of the most passionate voices for Europe, that she has urged Mrs May to sling Mr Rees-Mogg and his band of 35 hard Brexiters “out of the party” entirely. Later, she said she would leave the Conservatives herself if Mr Rees-Mogg became leader. The former education secretary Justine Greening agreed: she too would find staying in under Mr Rees-Mogg “a bit of a stretch”. | The insurgency on the Tory backbenches is turning into open warfare. The irreconcilable Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg is now the strong favourite to replace Theresa May. And although no one can yet foresee the precise sequence of events that might precipitate a challenge, the threat of a coup has so incensed Anna Soubry, the former business minister who has emerged as one of the most passionate voices for Europe, that she has urged Mrs May to sling Mr Rees-Mogg and his band of 35 hard Brexiters “out of the party” entirely. Later, she said she would leave the Conservatives herself if Mr Rees-Mogg became leader. The former education secretary Justine Greening agreed: she too would find staying in under Mr Rees-Mogg “a bit of a stretch”. |
| It is not hard to see why the temperature has risen so sharply since the chancellor, Philip Hammond, told businessmen in Davos he wanted as little divergence from the EU as possible. Leading Brexiters feared that earlier concessions made to get a divorce deal were to be consolidated into the final relationship. To appease them, Downing Street reiterated that Britain would leave the customs union. It is in the aftermath of this spat that Mrs May’s so-called war cabinet meets in a two-day session trailed as the moment when the shape of Britain’s future trade relations with Europe is to be decided. Or not. Mrs May cannot find a course that satisfies either the hardcore clean-break extremists, who want nothing more to do with Europe, or Mr Hammond’s supporters, who believe a minimalist Brexit is the only way to preserve the UK economy. So she drifts. | It is not hard to see why the temperature has risen so sharply since the chancellor, Philip Hammond, told businessmen in Davos he wanted as little divergence from the EU as possible. Leading Brexiters feared that earlier concessions made to get a divorce deal were to be consolidated into the final relationship. To appease them, Downing Street reiterated that Britain would leave the customs union. It is in the aftermath of this spat that Mrs May’s so-called war cabinet meets in a two-day session trailed as the moment when the shape of Britain’s future trade relations with Europe is to be decided. Or not. Mrs May cannot find a course that satisfies either the hardcore clean-break extremists, who want nothing more to do with Europe, or Mr Hammond’s supporters, who believe a minimalist Brexit is the only way to preserve the UK economy. So she drifts. |
| Mrs May must steel herself to offend both extremes. Both sides recognise that. The excitable stories of a coup involving Michael Gove and Boris Johnson as well as Mr Rees-Mogg were part of an effort to get her to decide in their favour. Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, looking on at the disarray, used his visit to Downing Street earlier this week to warn in his bleakly polite way that time was getting short if the European commission is to produce a full withdrawal text in March. Mrs May cannot go on ducking the decision. | Mrs May must steel herself to offend both extremes. Both sides recognise that. The excitable stories of a coup involving Michael Gove and Boris Johnson as well as Mr Rees-Mogg were part of an effort to get her to decide in their favour. Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, looking on at the disarray, used his visit to Downing Street earlier this week to warn in his bleakly polite way that time was getting short if the European commission is to produce a full withdrawal text in March. Mrs May cannot go on ducking the decision. |
| In TV studios on Sunday, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, suggested the war cabinet – in reality, the European Union exit and trade (strategy and negotiations) sub-committee, on which the 11 most senior ministers sit – was less divided than the headlines implied. That is because they have come to appreciate reality: maintaining trade with the EU outside the customs union is a dauntingly complex affair in an age when European manufactures often contain parts sourced from dozens of countries that travel many hundreds of miles before the end product is ready for export. | In TV studios on Sunday, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, suggested the war cabinet – in reality, the European Union exit and trade (strategy and negotiations) sub-committee, on which the 11 most senior ministers sit – was less divided than the headlines implied. That is because they have come to appreciate reality: maintaining trade with the EU outside the customs union is a dauntingly complex affair in an age when European manufactures often contain parts sourced from dozens of countries that travel many hundreds of miles before the end product is ready for export. |
| Nor is it possible, outside the customs union, to see how to protect the open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The EU side is preparing a legal text of the agreement that is likely to contain details that were glossed over in the urgency to get a deal. That clarity may be an even greater threat to the negotiations than the ambitious rivals manoeuvring around Mrs May. | Nor is it possible, outside the customs union, to see how to protect the open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The EU side is preparing a legal text of the agreement that is likely to contain details that were glossed over in the urgency to get a deal. That clarity may be an even greater threat to the negotiations than the ambitious rivals manoeuvring around Mrs May. |
| To millions of voters who simply want Brexit to happen, this dispute over trade deals looks both arcane and irrelevant, of interest only to a small handful of Tory MPs. It is not. It is a much bigger decision, too, than whether or not Mrs May keeps her job. This is deciding what Brexit looks like – the question not on the ballot paper – and it is a matter of overwhelming national interest. | To millions of voters who simply want Brexit to happen, this dispute over trade deals looks both arcane and irrelevant, of interest only to a small handful of Tory MPs. It is not. It is a much bigger decision, too, than whether or not Mrs May keeps her job. This is deciding what Brexit looks like – the question not on the ballot paper – and it is a matter of overwhelming national interest. |
| Despite this, Labour’s voice has been at best uncertain. The single market has been conceded, and the benefits of membership of the customs union blurred. Yet Labour is clear that it wants a Brexit that delivers more jobs and protects workers’ rights and the environment. It has ambitious plans that rely on an expanding economy. The more distant Britain’s relationship with the EU, the longer those plans will be delayed, and the harder they will be to achieve. Labour must speak in defence of the good that Europe has brought, and it must start by making this a truly national debate. And the prime minister cannot be allowed to go on trying to hold her bad-tempered party together by delaying crucial decisions. | Despite this, Labour’s voice has been at best uncertain. The single market has been conceded, and the benefits of membership of the customs union blurred. Yet Labour is clear that it wants a Brexit that delivers more jobs and protects workers’ rights and the environment. It has ambitious plans that rely on an expanding economy. The more distant Britain’s relationship with the EU, the longer those plans will be delayed, and the harder they will be to achieve. Labour must speak in defence of the good that Europe has brought, and it must start by making this a truly national debate. And the prime minister cannot be allowed to go on trying to hold her bad-tempered party together by delaying crucial decisions. |
| Brexit | |
| Opinion | |
| Theresa May | |
| Jacob Rees-Mogg | |
| European Union | |
| Foreign policy | |
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