DAVID DAVIS SHOCK THREAT TO QUIT
Row over customs union puts Brexit Secretary on brink
DAVID Davis is on the brink of resigning as Brexit Secretary, it emerged last night.
Friends say he is “extremely frustrated” over the Prime Minister’s plans to strike a deal with the EU over a “customs partnership”. Mr Davis
is said to be unhappy with the direction of Government policy and “feels he has been cut out of the decisions”.
His threat to quit comes ahead of a crunch meeting on Wednesday where the Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit is set to debate the complex plans for a customs partnership which Brexiteers have already said is unacceptable.
A source close to Mr Davis said his final decision would be “very much dependent on what happens at that meeting. It is pretty crucial”.
It is understood that if Mr Davis decides to resign on a point of principle then other Brexit-supporting ministers may follow, precipitating a major crisis for Theresa May.
According to friends, he feels he has been “cut out of the loop” since late last year and replaced by senior civil servant Olly Robbins, who is based in Downing Street.
Mr Robbins has been described as “an arch Remainer” and recently a delegation to Downing Street led by Jacob Rees-Mogg demanded his sacking.
A senior Tory MP who is close to Mr Davis said: “David has told me he is on the brink of resigning.
“He is completely fed up. Policy is being completely directed by Olly Robbins who does not support Brexit and has pushed this ridiculous customs partnership proposal. I think he feels he can’t achieve anything any more the way things are and fears that he may get blamed for an unacceptable fudge which could be extremely damaging.”
Another friend of the minister said: “From the conversations I’ve had with him I am surprised he has not quit already.
“He is depressed about the whole thing and it is insulting the way that May has allowed Robbins to run the show.”
A senior MP added: “It’s no secret that Davis wants to walk. He’s said as much to me.
“I think if he goes others will follow and that will be a major problem for the Prime Minister and leave her very damaged.”
The influence of Mr Robbins has been a concern for Brexit-backing MPs for several months.
The issue was raised when a delegation of senior Tories met the Prime Minister on Thursday night.
One MP said: “The problem is we go in and think we have persuaded the Prime Minister to do the right thing with Brexit. “Then after we leave she talks to Olly Robbins and does the opposite.” Mr Davis has previously resigned from the front bench on a matter of principle, which makes colleagues believe that he is serious this time.
He quit as shadow Home Secretary under David Cameron’s leadership to fight a by-election in protest over Labour introducing 42 days’ detention before terror suspects needed to be charged.
The Brexit sub-committee row on Wednesday centres on a plan dreamed up by the civil service for Britain and the EU to have a customs partnership. This would mean that Britain acts as a tax collector for Brussels and has to deal with a huge amount of bureaucratic red tape.
Former Brexit minister David Jones has been a leading critic of the proposal, which Mr Rees-Mogg has also described as unacceptable.
Mr Jones said: “It will be a bureaucratic nightmare for us and,
worse still, make it almost impossible to have free trade deals with the rest of the world.
“While technically we could strike trade deals, the need to collect the EU’s tariffs will tie us to the EU’s customs union and act as a major disincentive to other countries to make agreements with us.”
The row has become even more intense after Home Secretary Amber Rudd, one of the leading Remainers in the Cabinet, suggested earlier this week that the UK could still be tied into a full customs union, which the Daily Express has crusaded against.
If she succeeded in getting Britain to stay in a customs union with the EU it would mean that the UK could not control its own trade policy and, like Turkey, would need permission from Brussels to make separate agreements. The problem has come about because of EU intransigence over the Northern Ireland issue and the need to avoid a “hard” border with the Republic.
Remainers have also pushed for Britain to have a customs union with the EU as a means of reversing the historic EU referendum result.
But last night a former Remainer Tory MP warned that if Britain did not have a “clean Brexit” then it would undermine faith in democracy in the UK. Matt Warman said: “I would say to my colleagues, democracy must come first.
“What people voted for, whether some in this place like it or not, is a clean break because that is what allows us to have the control that people voted for.”
Last night sources within the Brexit department were trying to play down the threat of Mr Davis resigning, claiming it was a “Remainer fantasy”. A senior source said: “This is nonsense. No one is more committed to seeing Brexit through than DD. He’s going nowhere.”
Meanwhile EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier tried to play down the importance of the City of London, claiming the EU has nothing to lose by not having full access to it.