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| Hunt tells Johnson to keep Brexit rows private | Hunt tells Johnson to keep Brexit rows private |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has told Boris Johnson to keep his disagreements over Brexit private, warning that open expressions of dissent could mean a worse deal for the UK. | The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has told Boris Johnson to keep his disagreements over Brexit private, warning that open expressions of dissent could mean a worse deal for the UK. |
| In one of the strongest public rebuffs to the foreign secretary by a fellow cabinet minister, Hunt told Johnson he should maintain collective cabinet responsibility and “work as a team”. | In one of the strongest public rebuffs to the foreign secretary by a fellow cabinet minister, Hunt told Johnson he should maintain collective cabinet responsibility and “work as a team”. |
| Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about Johnson’s dismissal of Theresa May’s preferred post-Brexit customs solution as “crazy”, Hunt said this had not been helpful. | Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about Johnson’s dismissal of Theresa May’s preferred post-Brexit customs solution as “crazy”, Hunt said this had not been helpful. |
| “I do think that it’s important that we have these debates in private, not just because of collective responsibility – which is what democracy depends on – but also because this is a negotiation,” Hunt said. “And so, on the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, then they will exploit that.” | “I do think that it’s important that we have these debates in private, not just because of collective responsibility – which is what democracy depends on – but also because this is a negotiation,” Hunt said. “And so, on the EU side, if they see divisions in the open, then they will exploit that.” |
| Asked if Johnson should resign, Hunt said not, but argued that this was, in part, because the foreign secretary was one of the architects of the UK’s decision to leave the EU and should therefore see the process through. | Asked if Johnson should resign, Hunt said not, but argued that this was, in part, because the foreign secretary was one of the architects of the UK’s decision to leave the EU and should therefore see the process through. |
| “I think he has a very, very important role to play in government, and he is the architect of the whole Brexit campaign,” Hunt said. “And we are listening to what he said and we are doing what he wants.” | |
| Hunt continued: “But I just think that we also have to recognise we’re not the only people who read the papers, in Britain. They’re read all over the world and we need to give Theresa May some space. | |
| “We’re going to have very lively debates, right the way through until 28 March next year, and probably beyond. But … we should probably have them in private, because that will strengthen Theresa May’s negotiating position.” | “We’re going to have very lively debates, right the way through until 28 March next year, and probably beyond. But … we should probably have them in private, because that will strengthen Theresa May’s negotiating position.” |
| Asked whether his message was, in summary, “Boris belt up”, Hunt replied: “You could say that, I’d say he’s a marvellous foreign secretary, let’s work as a team.” | Asked whether his message was, in summary, “Boris belt up”, Hunt replied: “You could say that, I’d say he’s a marvellous foreign secretary, let’s work as a team.” |
| Hunt’s intervention comes ahead of a a cross-party initiative against a hard Brexit taking place on Monday, in which the former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, the ex-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and the former Tory cabinet minister Nicky Morgan will share a platform at an event. | |
| Miliband told Today that the trio were getting together because of a “national crisis” over Brexit. “The UK has no negotiating position on the fundamental issues that face the country as it contemplates its Brexit relationship with the European Union,” he said. | |
| With only 120 days to go before a European council meeting at which a deal will be decided, “the truth is that Britain is being held to ransom by the demand for hard Brexit”, said Miliband, who now runs an aid charity in New York City. | |
| He said there was a strong argument for the UK to stay both in the customs union and the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit. He urged Labour to support a Lords amendment passed last week seeking continued UK membership of the EEA. | |
| “The Labour position was not to support that,” Miliband said. “And the warning for Jeremy Corbyn is that if he’s not very careful, he will be the midwife of a hard Brexit that threatens the living standards of the very people that he says he wants to stand up to represent.” | |
| But Miliband dismissed the idea that the event was a precursor to a new centrist party. “We stand together for cross-party working, not for creating new parties.” | |
| May faces a significant split ahead of a crucial meeting this week of her Brexit inner cabinet over whether to push ahead with a customs partnership, in which the UK would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU in an attempt to minimise the impact on the Irish border, or opt for a so-called maximum facilitation model, which would seek to use technology instead. | |
| A customs union is an agreement by a group of countries, such as the EU, to all apply the same tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world and, typically, eliminate them entirely for trade within the group. By doing this, they can help avoid the need for costly and time-consuming customs checks during trade between members of the union. Asian shipping containers arriving at Felixstowe or Rotterdam, for example, need only pass through customs once before their contents head to markets all over Europe. Lorries passing between Dover and Calais avoid delay entirely. | A customs union is an agreement by a group of countries, such as the EU, to all apply the same tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world and, typically, eliminate them entirely for trade within the group. By doing this, they can help avoid the need for costly and time-consuming customs checks during trade between members of the union. Asian shipping containers arriving at Felixstowe or Rotterdam, for example, need only pass through customs once before their contents head to markets all over Europe. Lorries passing between Dover and Calais avoid delay entirely. |
| Customs are not the only checks that count – imports are also scrutinised for conformity with trading standards regulations and security and immigration purposes – but they do play an important role in determining how much friction there is at the border. A strict customs regime at Dover or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would lead to delays that will be costly for business and disruptive for travellers. Just-in-time supply chains in industries such as car making could suffer. An Irish peace process built around the principle of entirely unfettered travel between north and south could be jeopardised. | Customs are not the only checks that count – imports are also scrutinised for conformity with trading standards regulations and security and immigration purposes – but they do play an important role in determining how much friction there is at the border. A strict customs regime at Dover or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would lead to delays that will be costly for business and disruptive for travellers. Just-in-time supply chains in industries such as car making could suffer. An Irish peace process built around the principle of entirely unfettered travel between north and south could be jeopardised. |
| Hard Brexiters in the cabinet greatly favour the latter option. On Sunday, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, said there were “significant question marks” about the customs partnership model preferred by May. He said it had flaws and needed to be tested. | |
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