PM is told: Stake your job on keeping us out of EU customs union
THERESA May was under pressure last night to put her job on the line to keep Britain out of the EU’s customs union.
Senior Eurosceptics are urging the Prime Minister to turn a crucial decision on the issue next month into a vote of confidence in her government.
It would involve Mrs May warning diehard Tory Remainers that she would resign if she lost the vote, bringing down the Government.
Supporters of the high-stakes gamble – including Boris Johnson – believe it would persuade most Tory rebels to abandon their efforts to keep Britain in the customs union.
Mr Johnson declined to say yesterday whether he would resign if the Government performed a U-turn and decided to stay in the customs union.
One ally acknowledged that he backed the idea of a confidence vote to ‘show strength and face down the rebels’.
But some aides to Mrs May fear a number of pro-Remain Tories are so obsessed with retaining ties to Brussels they would rather usher in a hard-Left Labour government than back down.
Rebel leader Dominic Grieve refused to say yesterday whether he would change his position on the customs union if it were a vote of confidence, saying he would ‘act in the best interests of the country’. The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that the UK must leave the customs union after Brexit in order to strike trade deals around the world.
Speaking during a campaign visit to a business in the West Midlands, she said: ‘Coming out of the customs union means that we will be free to have those deals – deals that suit the UK.
‘But I also recognise the importance to businesses like this of being able to have as frictionless a border as possible into the European Union.’
Ministers face a string of votes over Brexit in the coming weeks. Last week they were heavily defeated in the Lords on an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill designed to keep Britain in the customs union.
Downing Street brushed aside concerns about a backbench Commons debate on the issue on Thursday, saying it would not be binding. But ministers are on red alert over an amendment to the Trade Bill tabled by former Tory ministers Anna Soubry and Kenneth Clarke.
The amendment, signed by six Tory MPs, would require the Government to take steps to allow Britain to remain in a customs union after Brexit.
The motion is to be debated in the coming weeks. Cabinet sources fear they may not have the numbers to win, plunging government policy on the issue into chaos.
Eurosceptic MPs claim they have had private assurances from the Tory whips that Mrs May will make it a confidence vote if that appears to be the only hope of winning.
One source said: ‘The equation for the Government is simple. There are ten Tory MPs who want to keep us in a customs union, there are upwards of 60 of us who will do
‘Face down the rebels’
anything to stop that – who is more likely to bring the temple crashing down if they don’t get what they want?’
Eurosceptic former Cabinet minister John Redwood said the customs union was a ‘protection racket’ and it was ‘extremely good news’ that Mrs May was not softening her position.
But the Prime Minister is also under pressure to drop her preferred solution of a ‘customs partnership’ to keep goods flowing freely between Britain and the EU. Critics – including some in the Cabinet – fear it could lead to the UK staying in the customs union by the back door.
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