Rudd in firing line over customs union blunder
AMBER Rudd was facing fresh calls to resign last night after she declined to support government policy over Brexit and the customs union.
Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out any customs union deal with the EU after Brexit because it would prevent Britain from striking lucrative trade deals with the rest of the world.
But at a lunch in Parliament with journalists yesterday, Ms Rudd twice refused to rule out a customs union relationship – and indicated the Cabinet is still undecided over the issue.
Asked whether it was more or less likely that Britain would stay in the customs union, Ms Rudd said: “I’m not going to be drawn on that.
“We still have a few discussions to be had in a really positive, consensual and easy way among some of my Cabinet colleagues in order to arrive at a final position.”
Ms Rudd, who is already under fire over the Windrush scandal, has long been seen as the leading Remainer in the Cabinet, along with Chancellor Philip Hammond, trying to thwart a clean Brexit.
Tory MP Peter Bone, founder of the pro-Brexit Grassroots Out campaign group, led calls for Ms Rudd to resign.
It followed a call on Wednesday by Jeremy Corbyn for Ms Rudd to resign over the Windrush crisis, which has seen relatives of people from Caribbean countries who settled in the UK decades ago being declared illegal immigrants, if they could not prove they had lived continuously in the UK.
Mr Bone said: “What she said was quite extraordinary. She was refusing to support government policy.
“You cannot have the third most important member of the Government not supporting a fundamental part of government policy.
“If she meant what she said then she should not remain as Home Secretary.”
John Longworth, co-chairman of Leave Means Leave, said: “The Home Secretary is clearly under pressure but that is no excuse to sabotage Britain’s negotiating position with Brussels.
“She has been reluctantly adhering to the Government’s Brexit policy to date, but now she needs to make her position clear.”
Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, who also wants to keep Britain under Brussels rule, said: “Amber Rudd appears to have let slip that discussions around the Cabinet table about negotiating a customs union have not in fact concluded.”
A Downing Street spokesman said that the Prime Minister “has full confidence” in Ms Rudd.
He insisted that the policy remains that “Britain will leave the [EU’s] customs union and will not join another”.
The row erupted after a debate in the Commons brought by Remainer Labour MP Yvette Cooper called for Britain to stay in the customs union.
The Government decided not to oppose the non-binding motion and plans to ignore it.