Customs union means Brexit in name only

LIKE hostages suffering from Stockholm syndrome, Westminster’s diehard Remainers have become so emotionally shackled to the EU that they simply can’t conceive of life outside it.

All objectivity has flown out of the window. Their primary allegiance is no longer to the constituents who elected them – or the 17.4million people who voted for Brexit – but to Brussels. The latest evidence of this is their insistence that we must stay in the customs union (or ‘a’ customs union as they put it, without specifiying the difference) after leaving the EU.

Let us be absolutely clear what this means. In exchange for ‘ frictionless’ borders, Britain would have to abide by EU tariffs, be unable to strike independent trade deals with the wider world and have to accept regulations laid down by the European Court.

In addition, we would almost certainly be charged an exorbitant fee for the privilege but have no say in our own commercial future. It is the worst of all worlds.

Theresa May has let it be known she would never agree to such a betrayal. But even if she did, it wouldn’t be the end for the Remainers. How long before they demanded we stay in the single market and therefore allow free movement? This would be Brexit in name only – which is, of course, exactly what they want.

They hope to force through a Commons amendment next month committing the UK to staying in a customs union. If it succeeds, the whole Brexit process could be destabilised. Tory Brexiteers – already angry over the climbdown on fishing rights – would block any compromise and Mrs May’s position could become untenable.

Then Britain would face the most chilling threat of all – a general election that could put Jeremy Corbyn into power.

So before setting off this potentially disastrous chain of events, Tory Remainers such as Anna Soubry, who proposed the amendment, must think carefully about where their true loyalties lie.

They vehemently object to being branded traitors. But if their anti- democratic manoeuvrings usher in a Marxist Labour government, that is exactly what their party – and most of the country – will think of them. And rightly so.