May secures divided cabinet’s agreement on EU goods plan

÷ BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May secured a cabinet agreement for her plans to leave the EU, overcoming rifts among her ministers to win support for “a business-friendly” proposal aimed at spurring stalled Brexit talks.

After an hours-long meeting at her Chequers country residence, May, pictured, seemed to have persuaded the most vocal Brexit campaigners in her cabinet to back her plan to press for “a free trade area for goods” with the EU.

The agreed proposal — which also says Britain’s large services sector will not have the current levels of access to EU markets — can not come soon enough for Brussels, which has been pressing May to come up with a detailed vision for future ties.

But the hard-won compromise may yet fall flat with EU negotiators.

By also committing to ending free movement of people, the supremacy of the European court and “vast” payments to the bloc, May could be accused of “cherry-picking” the best bits of the EU by Brussels officials, who are determined to send a strong signal to other countries not to follow Britain out of the door.

For now, May will be buoyed by the hard-won agreement.