Now Gove attacks PM’s ‘flawed’ customs plan
MICHAEL Gove has warned of ‘significant question marks’ over plans for a post- Brexit customs partnership.
The Environment Secretary said the model – one of two being considered by the Cabinet – has ‘flaws which need to be tested’.
The leading Brexit campaigner set out his stall firmly against extending Britain’s membership of the customs union, saying it was important to ‘crack on’.
He said it was ‘critical’ to have a new customs arrangement ready for the end of the transition period in January 2021.
Mr Gove refused to repeat Boris Johnson’s claim last week that the idea was ‘crazy’. But in an interview on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show he allied himself with many of the Foreign Secretary’s criticisms of the plan, saying it would mean the Government acting as ‘tax collector’ for the EU.
A report yesterday suggested as many as a dozen members of the Cabinet are opposed to the customs partnership, which is No 10’s preferred option.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt appeared to endorse the idea yesterday. ‘I’m backing the Prime Minister – I think that we have to trust Theresa May,’ he told LBC radio. ‘This is a very, very difficult situation that we’re in as a country but it’s got great opportunities for us. You can’t iron out every single detail of a negotiating position in public. We have to get behind the Prime Minister and support her to do the best deal for the country.’
His comments came as the Prime Minister insisted she could be trusted to deliver on Brexit. In an article for The Sunday Times, Mrs May wrote: ‘I will not let you down.’ She promised to ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders, money and laws, but added: ‘There will have to be compromises.’
The partnership would see Britain continuing to collect EU tariffs at the border and passing them to Brussels. It would also mean close alignment of regulations.
The alternative, known as ‘maximum facilitation’, which is preferred by pro-Brexit MPs, seeks to use technology to reduce customs checks, and trusted trader schemes to deal with the Northern Ireland border.
But Mr Gove said: ‘Across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.
‘And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because it’s novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time. It’s my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested.’
He rejected the possibility of delaying the customs deal, a proposal raised by Tory MP Nick Boles last week.
‘In delay there lies no plenty, as Shakespeare once said. One of the things that we need to do is to crack on,’ Mr Gove said.
Two Cabinet groups, each of three ministers, will meet today to discuss the proposals.
They are expected to make a presentation to the Brexit ‘war committee’ tomorrow and submit a written paper next week – meaning no decision is likely this week.
Meanwhile Irish deputy premier Simon Coveney suggested the customs partnership would be accepted by EU negotiators, and that it could help solve the Irish border problem. He said British ministers had ruled out cameras at the border and insisted there would be ‘regulatory alignment’ between the EU and the UK. But DUP MP Sammy Wilson branded him ‘ belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing’, adding: ‘The fact is the border issues can all be dealt with by technology but Coveney and Co have stuck their heads in the sand, refusing to even consider this solution because it doesn’t suit his aggressive republican agenda. The IRA failed to dislodge Northern Ireland from the UK with bombs, Coveney won’t do it with Brexit.’
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