EU leaders ‘discussing’ Brexit compromise
European Union leaders are considering a Brexit compromise that would allow Britain access to the single market for goods while ending freedom of movement of people.
In the first sign of divergence between EU member states and Michel Barnier, Brussels’ chief negotiator, leaders are expected to sound out British Prime Minister Theresa May about a compromise at a summit in Salzburg next month.
However, the deal would come at a price, as it would involve Britain accepting all future EU environmental and social protections – which Eurosceptics say is ‘‘not Brexit’’.
Downing Street is understood to be cautiously optimistic that leaders of the EU27 countries are finally engaging with May’s Chequers plan for Brexit after Barnier had previously dismissed it as unworkable. The European Commission declined to comment on the plan, but did not deny that member states ‘‘may be discussing it’’.
Until now, Barnier has insisted that Britain cannot ‘‘cherry pick’’ parts of EU membership, such as access to the single market, while rejecting others, such as freedom of movement.
However, member states are considering allowing Britain to remain in the single market for goods if it is prepared to tie itself to EU standards on environmental and social protections in perpetuity. The Chequers plan involves signing up to a ‘‘common rule book’’ with the EU, but allows for Britain to diverge from Brussels in future if Parliament decides to.
A senior Whitehall source said: ‘‘The noises coming out of Brussels this week suggest some positive engagement with the Brexit white paper. That needs to translate into positive discussions in the negotiating room.’’
Tory Brexiteers say May has already conceded too much ground with her Chequers plan, and warned that promising to accept future EU rule changes would turn Britain into a ‘‘vassal state’’.
David Jones, the former Brexit minister, said: ‘‘What this shows is that if we talk tough, as we have been doing over no deal, the EU will move towards us. But there is no way the prime minister could accept any deal that involved us being tied to future EU rule changes.
‘‘It would mean MPs having to tell voters at the next election that there are still things we can’t do because the EU won’t let us, and we would be hammered for that.’’
Meanwhile, a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party suggested the Chequers plan could be dropped once Britain leaves the EU if a future government wanted to harden up Brexit. James Cleverly told Chopper’s Brexit Podcast: ‘‘If at some point we got a trade deal proposal which contradicts elements of the common rule book, then we can make that judgment.
‘‘We can look at the opportunities that free trade agreement presents us with and the potential cost to the UK-EU trade relationship. You can make and unmake treaties. Treaties can be unmade. It can be done.’’
Cleverly added: ‘‘No one is pretending the Chequers proposal is going to satisfy everybody. There is such a range of opinions about Brexit that it’s not possible for any one proposal or agreement to satisfy everybody.
‘‘When I went into the referendum campaign, I was campaigning on three explicit points – taking back control of money, laws and borders.
‘‘Because I’m a Conservative there were also for me two implicit additional elements. Do so without destroying the jobs that businesses have created over the last years we have been in government.
‘‘Because I’m a unionist, to deliver the Brexit result without breaking up the UK.
‘‘Those are the five touchstone issues.’’ – Telegraph Group