Mogg: PM’s customs plan is cretinous

JACOB Rees- Mogg last night warned Theresa May against going ahead with a ‘completely cretinous’ plan to strike a customs partnership with the EU.

The Tory MP said the idea was ‘the silliest thing I could possibly think of’ and would be a ‘betrayal of good sense’.

A customs partnership, which would see Britain collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU for all goods that pass through the UK on the way to Europe, is one of the two options put forward by the Government to deal with customs arrangements after Brexit.

In an outspoken intervention, Mr ReesMogg also directed a warning shot at peers whom he said risk voting themselves into extinction by attempting to thwart Brexit.

The chairman of the Tory backbench European Research Group said it was a case of the ‘peers against the people’ after the Lords inflicted a series of defeats on legislation preparing for the country’s departure from the EU.

‘I think their lordships are playing with fire and it would be a shame to burn down a historic house,’ he said.

His comments came after a petition calling for a referendum on abolishing the Lords passed the 100,000 signature mark, which could trigger a debate in Parliament.

Mr Rees-Mogg, speaking at an event organised by the Open Europe think-tank, said peers ‘have to decide whether they love ermine or the EU more’.

The Government’s plans for Brexit have been dealt a series of blows in the Lords, with peers inflicting a defeat last week on the issue of leaving the customs union.

Mr Rees-Mogg claimed that peers were breaching the convention that the House of Lords should not prevent a Government implementing commitments made in its election manifesto.

‘They are trying to stop the largest ever public vote in our history,’ he said. ‘We are in a position of peers against the people. It is deeply unattractive and I think it is the weakest position for the House of Lords to be in. There is a problem with the House of Lords in that it is very condescending towards the democratic vote. They seem to think that they know better than 17.4million people.’

In the wide-ranging interview, Mr ReesMogg also warned that giving preferential immigration treatment to EU citizens after Brexit would be a ‘racist’ policy.

He said he does not know how enthusiastic an ‘enigmatic’ Theresa May is about leaving the EU and urged her to be ‘firmer’ with Brussels.

And appeared to rule himself out of succeeding Mrs May, saying that the next Tory leader should be picked from within the Cabinet. Responding to Mr Rees-Mogg’s comments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that it was part of the Lords’ role to scrutinise legislation.

But he added: ‘We have been clear that we are disappointed with the decisions taken by the House of Lords.’

Asked whether he would agree that Mrs May had been ‘enigmatic’ about her views of Brexit, the spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister has made absolutely clear her determination to deliver on the will of the British people, and that she believes that we can deliver Brexit in such a way that provides for Britain a stronger, more prosperous and more secure future.’