Boris vs May on Brexit plan
Scathing article penned by Johnson raises speculation he may challenge her leadership
FORMER British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson slammed Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit policy in a newspaper column yesterday.
This has now heightened speculation that he plans to challenge her leadership of the country.
Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph that May’s so-called Chequers plan for continued close economic ties with the EU would leave Britain tethered to the bloc.
Britain would get little in return, he argued. Johnson said that Britain “has gone into battle with the white flag fluttering over our leading tank”.
It had also agreed to pay a £40 billion (R767bn) divorce bill in return “for two-thirds of diddly squat”.
Britain is due to leave the EU in March. But negotiations on a divorce deal have stalled.
Divisions have appeared within May’s Conservative government over how close an economic relationship to seek with the EU. A proposal hammered out by May’s cabinet in July at the prime minister’s Chequers country retreat proposes keeping the UK aligned to EU regulations.
This would be in return for free trade in goods. The plan infuriated Brexit-backers in May’s Conservative Party including Johnson, who quit the government in protest. Johnson claims the Chequers deal would prevent the UK from striking new trade deals.
“We will remain in the EU taxi, but this time locked in the boot with absolutely no say on the destination,” Johnson wrote.
May’s official spokesperson, James Slack, said Johnson’s opposition to the Chequers plan was well known.
“What we need at this time is serious leadership with a serious plan and that’s exactly what the country has with this prime minister and this Brexit plan”.
With Parliament due to return today from its summer break, Johnson and his fellow Brexit enthusiasts are not the only obstacles that May faces.
She still has to try to get her Brexit deal past the Conservative Party, Britain’s Parliament and the EU.
The EU have warned that Britain cannot “cherry pick” aspects of membership in the bloc without the full cost and responsibilities.
Yesterday Conservative supporters of a “soft Brexit” put forward a rival proposal. They argued that Britain should stay in the EU’s single market for goods and services for three years after Brexit. This would be while it negotiates a future free trade deal with the bloc. Conservative lawmaker MP Nick Boles said the idea was better than the Chequers proposal.
That deal had a “close to zero” chance of being approved by Parliament, Boles said.