Customs partnership ‘cretinous’

options for a future trading relationship with the EU. The first, a “customs partnership”, would see Britain collect duties for Brussels for goods arriving in the UK but intended for EU markets.

Eurosceptic MPS favour a second “highly streamlined” arrangement, which would use technology to minimise but not eliminate checks on imports. Asked by The Daily Telegraph if a “partnership” would be acceptable, Mr Rees-mogg said: “No, no – it is completely cretinous. It is a silly idea. It wouldn’t work, it is impractical, it is bureaucratic, it would mean we are effectively in the single market. It is a betrayal of good sense. I can’t understand why the government is faffing around with a system that nobody has looked at to see if it actually works.”

♦ The Government is considering rivaling the EU’S Galileo space project by sending its own satellite navigation system into space, amid the ongoing row over Brussels shutting the UK out of parts of the project, the Financial Times reported last night.