May: I won’t keep us trapped in EU
But Raab demands exit date from customs union
THERESA May tried to head off a Cabinet walkout yesterday amid hints that the Brexit transition period could be extended by another year.
No 10 insisted the Prime Minister would never sign a deal that left the UK ‘trapped permanently’ in the customs union and any extension of membership would be temporary.
But sources refused to say whether there will be a firm exit date in the final legal text agreed with Brussels.
It emerged last night that British and EU negotiators are discussing the possibility that the transition period, during which the UK remains a member of the Brussels club in all but name, could be extended.
A government source refused to deny the claim but said it was ‘not what it looked like’.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab warned last night that any customs extension ‘would have to be finite, it would have to be short and it would have to be time-limited… in order for it to be supported here’.
He added: ‘What we cannot do is see the UK locked in via the back door to a customs union arrangement which would leave us in indefinite limbo. That would not be leaving the EU.’
A transition deal, or ‘implementation period’, is set to run until the end of 2020.
Chancellor Philip Hammond hinted at a possible extension yesterday, saying: ‘We’re very clear this has to be a temporary period, but it is true that there needs to be a period – probably following the transition period that we’ve negotiated and before we enter into our long-term partnership.’
Mrs May faced a Cabinet backlash on Thursday night when she suggested a ‘temporary’ backstop plan designed to resolve the Irish border problem might not include an end date. The ‘temporary customs arrangement’ would in effect keep the whole UK in the customs union until a technical solution can be found for the Irish border problem.
Brexiteer Cabinet ministers including Mr Raab, Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey, and Penny Mordaunt are among those said to be unwilling to sign off a deal that keeps the UK tied to Brussels indefinitely, prompting fears of a wave of resignations.
A Cabinet source said last night: ‘No one is going to jump until there is a final text on the table. But people are very concerned. Why is [Mrs
‘Locked in via the back door’
May] plunging ahead with something that is not Brexit and will be impossible to sell to either the party or the public as such?’
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister would never agree to a deal which would trap the UK in a backstop permanently.’ But Downing Street refused to say whether a hard end date would be included in the final text. And, privately, sources said it would be ‘almost impossible’ given the EU’s implacable opposition to the idea.
It came as the EU said Britain would have to pay for the ‘privilege’ of remaining tied to the customs union, with experts warning of a likely bill of more than £6billion a year. Despite tensions over the issue, Mr Hammond struck an upbeat note yesterday, saying: ‘There’s a real sense now of engagement from both sides – of shared enterprise in trying to solve a problem rather than posturing towards each other.’
The Chancellor added the UK could anticipate a ‘double bonus’ if a deal is struck. He suggested official growth forecasts would revised upwards and he would be able to release at least part of a £15billion ‘fiscal buffer’ set aside to deal with the fallout of a no-deal Brexit.