BRITISH CABINET SIGNS ON TO BREXIT DEAL.
May’s deal allows for ‘free trade area’
LONDON • British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her cabinet has signed up to a Brexit deal that would keep Britain tied to EU rules and regulations indefinitely. May said Britain would establish a “free trade area for goods” with the EU, allowing for frictionless trade and avoiding the need for a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
A new customs arrangement will treat the U.K. and EU “as if (they are) a combined customs territory” and Britain will adopt a “common rule book” with the EU on industrial goods and agricultural products. The deal appeared to be a significant victory for Remainers in cabinet, as it keeps Britain closely aligned with the Customs Union and Single Market.
But it was unclear whether the deal has the full support of Brexiteers in cabinet.
Leading cabinet Brexiteers, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis, met in private Thursday, sparking rumours some could quit if May did not alter her 120-page proposal.
British media reported that ministers were warned that if they resign, they would immediately lose their government cars and have to call a taxi to leave Chequers, the prime minister’s country house. May insisted the cabinet had “agreed (on) our collective position for the future of our negotiations with the EU,” but even if she has achieved unanimity among her ministers, May must win the backing of Parliament for her plan before facing the acid test of seeking Brussels’ agreement. Her allies also fear that if the deal is rejected by the right wing of the Tory Party she could face a no-confidence vote within days.
May will address all Conservative MPs on Monday evening in an attempt to win their backing. But getting the Conservative government to agree with itself might be the easy part.
As the ministers met the EU’s chief negotiator warned that the remaining member nations wouldn’t accept a deal that treated the union’s single market for goods and services as Britain’s “big supermarket.”