May: Only Chequers supply chains for UK PM sticks to guns as she assures industry

PRIME Minister Theresa May has insisted that only her proposed ‘Chequers’ deal on Brexit can protect the car industry.

And she said a Canada-style trade deal, such as the one proposed by Tory rival Boris Johnson, would not deal with the concerns raised by car- makers such as Jaguar Land Rover. JLR has warned that it depends on frictionless trade with the EU, in order to prevent factories grinding to a halt.

Speaking to the Post before her speech at the Conservative conference in Birmingham on Wednesday, Mrs May said: “It is a message that has come through loud and clear.

“A number of industries, but particularly the automotive industry here in the West Midlands and elsewhere across the country, have been very clear about the importance of ‘just in time’ supply chains for them.

“The only plan on the table at the moment that has at its core a way of addressing that is the Chequers plan.

“The only plan on the table at the moment that has that core of a free trade area and frictionless trade is Chequers.”

Her proposed EU deal is opposed by some critics within the party, and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called on the UK to ask for a trade deal similar to the one already in place between the EU and Canada.

But Mrs May said: “The Canada-style free trade agreement actually introduces regulatory and customs checks at borders, so that doesn’t deal with the issue of taking away that potential friction and enabling that smooth running across the border.”

However, Mrs May repeated her warnings that she “won’t accept a deal that is a bad deal for the UK” – including the current proposal on offer from the EU

She said: “I am not prepared to see our country broken up.

“And the offer on the table from the EU about a basic trade agreement is one that would only be for Great Britain. It would effectively carve Northern Ireland way from the rest of the UK.”

Elsewhere Mrs May described an increase in violent crime as “worrying”.

It came in the week police shot a man during a raid near Five Ways, just half a mile from where Mrs May was staying. A triple stabbing also rocked the city centre as a near riot erupted among scores of teenagers in Dale End on Tuesday.

But Mrs May said police were being given new tools to get crime down,

The Canada-style free trade agreement actually introduces regulatory and customs checks at borders Theresa May

including tougher laws to outlaw knives and other offensive weapons

Official figures showed the number of violent crimes recorded by West Midlands Police rose from 42,280 in the 12 months up to December 2010, to 52,176 in the 12 months up to December 2017.

But the Prime Minister said: “Overall