We’ll be watching like hawks to protect Brexit, Tories tell Hammond
TORY Eurosceptics last night warned Philip Hammond they would be ‘watching like hawks’ to ensure a controversial ‘transitional deal’ on Brexit does not become permanent.
With the Prime Minister and several leading Brexit-supporting ministers out of the country, the Chancellor yesterday seized the opportunity to set out his own vision for a so-called ‘soft landing’ exit from the EU.
Mr Hammond said there was now a ‘broad consensus’ in the Cabinet behind the idea of pursuing a transition deal lasting up to three years to smooth the path to Brexit. This could see free movement continue in all but name for another five years, as well as potentially requiring Britain to continue paying in to the Brussels budget and accept rulings from European judges.
Mr Hammond said Britain would exit the single market and customs union when leaving the EU in March 2019. But he said transitional arrangements would mean little will have changed the day after Brexit, with ‘many arrangements remaining very similar to how they were the day before we exited the European Union’.
The Government could also be prevented from completing new trade deals with countries such as the United States and Australia during the period.
Mr Hammond said the transition could last for up to three years, but insisted it would be completed by the scheduled time of the next election in June 2022.
The idea of an extended transition was seized on by Remainers last night. Labour MP Chuka Umunna described Mr Hammond’s intervention as ‘refreshing’, saying he was bringing a ‘welcome dose of reality to the Brexit debate’.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, suggested the transitional arrangements could become permanent. ‘What is good is that the debate is moving towards staying in the single market, at least for a transitional period – and maybe that period will become indefinite,’ he said.
Several pro-Brexit Cabinet min- isters, including Liam Fox and Michael Gove, have said they would accept a transitional deal in recent days.
But Eurosceptic MPs remain cautious. Charlie Elphicke said: ‘The danger is we end up in a situation like the Eagles song Hotel California, where we can check out but never leave. We need to make sure that we do in fact leave the EU in more than just name.
‘Parking us in the European Economic Area, even for a short period, is the worst of all worlds, as we would still be bound by free movement and the ECJ but have no say over the rules we have to follow and no right to strike our own trade deals.’
Fellow Tory Peter Bone said there were ‘significant worries’ about the idea, adding: ‘I could not accept having the European Court of Justice continuing to have supremacy over us for a single day after we have left
‘The Remainers are playing a long game which I think they hope will eventually mean we do not end up leaving.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was ‘not worried, but cautious’ about a transitional deal. He added: ‘It all depends on the detail. We will be watching like hawks.’
Mr Hammond said a transitional agreement was needed to reassure business that new customs and immigration systems would be ready when the UK eventually severs its ties with Brussels. He suggested failure to do so risks a situation where shops could run out of products such as Spanish olives because of customs hold-ups.
The Chancellor said nobody was seeking a ‘cliff edge’ end to mass immigration from the EU.
‘At the present time, we have a high level of dependence on foreign workers in the UK,’ he said. ‘Nobody wants us to go over a cliff edge in March 2019 where suddenly our health services are unable to cope, social care is unable to deliver.’
Mr Hammond insisted that the UK would be free to start negotiating free trade deals during a transition – something disputed by some in the EU – but accepted it may be impossible to implement them during that time.
Meanwhile, Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat, who was involved in Brexit talks last year when he held the presidency of the European Council, yesterday said he was ‘hopeful’ it could be halted.
‘For the first time, I’m starting to believe that Brexit will not happen,’ he said. ‘I see encouraging signs that the tide is turning.’
‘Worst of all worlds’