What ARE the options?

THE CHEQUERS PLAN

THERESA May insisted yesterday that her July blueprint remains Britain’s negotiating position – and she expects her Cabinet to promote it with her.

But officials at No.10 know that as long as the EU continues holds firm, Tory backbench Brexiteers will only get louder. The agreement would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU and follow a ‘common rulebook’ for goods but not services.

CANADA

CANADA’S free trade deal with the EU came into force last October, following seven years of negotiation. It grants preferential access to the single market without signing up to the EU’s four fundamental freedoms – goods, services, capital and labour. It removes 99% of customs duties and trade tariffs, but it would not give British financial services the access to the EU market they currently enjoy, and, crucially it does not solve the border question.

NORWAY

UNDER the Norway model, the UK would sit alongside Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as part of the European Economic Area. It would give Britain the freedom to strike trade deals with countries around the world. But free movement of people would continue, which would be unacceptable to many Tory Eurosceptics.

NO DEAL

THE nuclear option. Mrs May repeated her pledge yesterday that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, which would see Britain make a clean break from the EU and fall back on its membership of the World Trade Organisation. However, this would result in costly tariffs being paid to trade with the EU, causing the price of food, consumer products and services to spiral.

BLIND BREXIT

THIS would involve a vague November statement on future trade in a bid to finalise the divorce payment and transition deal. The details of the future trading relationship would be sorted out at an unspecified later date.

BACKSTOP

THE UK already agreed to the backstop on the border last December, meaning that in the absence of a better arrangement being struck between the UK and the EU during the withdrawal negotiations, there will continue to be ‘full alignment’ between the customs rules of the EU and the North. However, if Mrs May sticks to her dictum that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’, the backstop could still be abandoned if there’s no deal.