Red lines will lead to ‘frictions’

BRITAIN’S Brexit red lines will lead to customs checks and disrupt global supply chains and manufacturing processes, the European Parliament has warned.

A leaked document shows the EU Parliament’s preference is for the UK to remain inside the Customs Union and Single Market, effectively ruling out the proposals put forward by Theresa May last week.

Although the European Parliament does not have an official role in the Brexit negotiations, it does hold a veto on the final deal.

The document warns that if Britain proceeds with its intention of leaving the Customs Union and Single Market, it will ‘lead to customs checks and verification which would affect global supply chains and manufacturing processes, even if tariff barriers can be avoided’.

It also predicts ‘negative economic consequences’ if the UK does not revise its red lines, which ‘limit the depth’ of any possible future partnership.

It says a ‘deep and comprehensive’ trade deal, such as the kind envisioned by Theresa May last week, must entail ‘a binding interpretation role’ for the European Court of Justice – which has also been ruled out by the UK.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, yesterday poured scorn on the idea that Brexit could be a success. ‘I fully understand and respect Theresa May’s political objectives to demonstrate at any price that Brexit will be a success and was the right choice,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, this is not our objective.

‘No member state is free to pick only those sectors of the single market it likes, nor to accept the role of the ECJ only when it suits their interest. By the same token, a pick-and-mix approach for a non-member state is out of the question.’

The European Parliament document considers the ‘repeatedly stated positions of the UK’ which it says ‘limit the depth of such a future partnership’.

‘Being outside the Customs Union and the Single Market will inevitably lead to frictions,’ it states.