PM: Canada-style deal will destroy UK

THERESA May last night insisted that she will not sign up to a ‘Canada-style’ Brexit deal that breaks up the UK.

Any such trade agreement would be worse than no deal as it would undermine Britain’s ‘constitutional integrity’, the Prime Minister insisted.

Mrs May also ruled out a general election before the UK leaves the EU, arguing it was not in the national interest. This week leading Eurosceptics heaped pressure on the PM to abandon her Chequers proposal.

Backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Brexit secretary David Davis and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson all endorsed a ‘Canada-style’ agreement.

That would mean looser ties to the EU than the Chequers plan, which locks Britain into the single market rules for goods and food. The Eurosceptics argued it would give greater scope for deals with non-EU countries.

The EU has proposed a Canada-style agreement but it would only apply to England, Scotland and Wales – meaning Northern Ireland would in effect be forced to stay in the customs union and single market.

Speaking to journalists as she flew to New York for the UN General assembly, Mrs May said any deal that would put a border in the Irish Sea would be a ‘bad’ outcome. She said: ‘First of all, I have always said no deal is better than a bad deal. I think a bad deal would be, for example, a deal that broke up the United Kingdom. We want to maintain the unity of the United Kingdom.’ The PM insisted her Chequers plan was a ‘good deal’ which protects the union, ensures there is no hard border in Northern Ireland and protects jobs.

Earlier this week Eurosceptic Tories backed a report by the Institute for Economic Affairs think-tank entitled Plan A plus, which set out how a free trade deal with the EU could work.

Authored by trade expert Shanker Singham, it argued there was still a ‘Brexit prize’ to be seized. But it warned the Chequers plan and Mrs May’s ‘supplicant’ approach to the talks would undermine growth.

The Chequers proposal also suffered a blow at last week’s Salzburg summit after EU Council President Donald Tusk declared it ‘would not work’.