Act now on customs or EU will profit, May told

THERESA MAY has been urged to make a swift decision over Britain’s customs relationship with the EU as she promised clarity in time for a key meeting in Brussels next month.

Tory Eurosceptics expressed frustration yesterday as the Brexit “war Cabinet” once again failed to agree on what should replace the customs union.

They fear more delays will play into the hands of the EU and make it more likely that Britain will stay in the customs union. Downing Street responded by saying that the Government would publish a white paper next month.

Billed as the most detailed document on Brexit since the 2016 EU referendum, it will include a final decision on what Britain wants its customs arrangements to be.

It follows months of pressure from David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, for the Government to publish a “detailed plan” on the socalled “end state” of Brexit. Mr Davis told a meeting of the Cabinet the document would contain “detailed,

ambitious and precise explanations of our positions... it should set out what will change and what will feel different outside the EU”.

Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, mocked Mrs May over her failure to agree a customs model, telling European ministers it was “unnecessary to fight” Britain at the moment because neither option is “realistic, no matter which one they choose”.

Mrs May’s problems mounted yesterday as the Scottish Parliament triggered a constitutional crisis by withholding consent for the EU Withdrawal Bill. MSPS voted overwhelmingly to reject the Bill – the first time the devolved Parliament has exercised this power since it was created in 1999. It means Mrs May must impose the Withdrawal Bill on Holyrood, against its wishes.

Scottish Tories accused Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, of creating a political crisis as an excuse to push for a second independence referendum.

Mrs May had been on a charm offensive this week to calm her backbench critics, appealing for their help to see Brexit through and inviting them to Downing Street on Monday for a presentation on the pros and cons of the two customs options on the table.

Two Cabinet working groups have been set up by Mrs May to hone the competing visions of a customs partnership and a “maximum facilitation” model, but they failed to make any progress at their first meetings on Monday.

There is concern among Tory Brexiteers that no agreement will be reached before the next meeting of the European Council on June 28-29, the penultimate meeting of EU leaders before the October deadline to agree a deal.

One Conservative source said: “There is frustration that the Prime Minister is not gripping this; that she is refusing to make a decision. Delay only benefits the EU because it increases the likelihood that we will end up staying in the customs union if we can’t find an alternative.”

Mr Davis said the white paper, to be published before the June European Council meeting, would be “an opportunity to set out clearly to both a domestic and an EU audience the reasoning behind our approach, including where we think it is clearly in the EU’S interests as well as our own”.