‘UK will have to pay billions for Brexit deal’

Single Market access will come at a price, warns Boris Johnson, as he urges Mrs May to cap payments

By Gordon Rayner POLITICAL EDITOR

and Peter Foster EUROPE EDITOR

BREXITEERS in the Cabinet fear Britain will end up paying for access to the EU’S Single Market as Boris Johnson warned Theresa May she must impose a cap on cash for Brussels post-brexit.

The Foreign Secretary told Mrs May at Friday’s Chequers summit that the UK must not surrender control of immigration or of payments to Brussels if she is to have any hope of convincing the public she has a good Brexit plan. In criticising the Prime Minister’s proposal, Mr Johnson reportedly told her that anyone promoting it would simply be “polishing a turd”. And as he looked around the room, he added: “Luckily we have some expert turd polishers.”

He told her the plan would reduce Britain to a “vassal state” of the EU and inhibit any chance of striking trade deals around the world. Total payments to Brussels must be “no more than 10 to 15 per cent” of current contributions, he added, meaning Britain could pay up to £2billion for associate membership of bodies such as the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The Chequers deal only promises to end “vast” payments to Brussels, with “appropriate” payments to be made in future, but makes no attempt to define what “vast” or “appropriate” might be. Leave campaigners fear the slippery slope of EU negotiations will take the UK much closer to paying for access to EU markets, with potential financial contributions rising accordingly.

Mr Johnson helped persuade the country to vote Leave by stating Brexit would free up the £350 million a week that currently goes to Brussels to be spent on the NHS. But he and other Cabinet ministers are concerned that the “Brexit dividend” promised to the country could now be whittled away.

Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, has made it clear that if Brit- ain wants access to the Single Market it will have to accept a deal similar to Norway’s, which would mean annual payments of around £4 billion.

The Chequers agreement amounts to such a “soft” Brexit, critics believe, that any further concessions to Brussels during the negotiations will result in Britain paying for access to the single market in goods. David Jones, the former Brexit minister and a leading member of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPS, said: “It’s clearly a concern that we could end up paying to access the single market.

“From the EU’S point of view they will look at this and ask why we should have access to the single market without paying for the privilege, and they will probably ask for other things as well, such as freedom of movement.”

In recent years the average net UK payment to the European Union has been about £13billion after deducting the rebate negotiated by Mrs Thatcher.

Members of the ERG have an 18-page legal assessment of the Chequers deal prepared by Martin Howe QC, an expert in EU law and leading Eurosceptic commentator, in which he said the deal would lead to “a worst-of-all-worlds ‘Black Hole’ Brexit where the UK is stuck permanently as a vassal state in the EU’S legal and regulatory tarpit, still has to obey EU laws and ECJ rulings across vast areas, cannot develop an effective international trade policy or adapt our economy to take advantage of the freedom of Brexit, and has lost its vote and treaty veto rights as an EU Member State”.

Gavin Barwell, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, held briefings for Tory MPS over the weekend to explain the Brexit plan, and will hold another this morning in the hope of drawing the sting out of the Brexiteers’ ire.

James Cleverly, the Conservative deputy chairman, was among those briefed, and he told the BBC: “I’ve been calmed, because I had some concerns. When people see what is actually in the proposal, rather than the speculation about the proposal, I think a lot of those nerves will calm considerably”.

Sir Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, said Mrs May’s Brexit plans were unworkable and a “fudge” which would not be supported by Labour.