Cabinet now backs Canada Brexit deal
Hunt leads ministers in urging May to drop Chequers in favour of free trade agreement
A MAJORITY of the Cabinet now supports moving towards a Canadastyle trade deal with the EU following the outright rejection of Theresa May’s Chequers plan, the Prime Minister will be told today.
Mrs May will be urged to rethink her approach to the Brexit negotiations by favouring a free trade agreement that would represent the “clean Brexit” that Leave supporters voted for.
Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, has emerged as a key figure in the Brexiteers’ fight to convince Mrs May to change tack. A former Remain campaigner, Mr Hunt is now squarely in the Leave camp and has publicly indicated that he is open to the idea of a Canada-style deal.
It comes as the Institute of Economic Affairs today publishes a detailed alternative Brexit plan, which has the backing of David Davis and Boris Johnson and urges Mrs May to open trade talks with the rest of the world.
Eurosceptics in the Cabinet, which meets today, will tell Mrs May that a free trade agreement is the only form of Brexit deal that could command a majority in Parliament.
They believe EU leaders behaved so appallingly towards Britain at last week’s Salzburg summit that Mrs May can now change tack without any need to resign, as long as she stands firm over the need to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.
Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, yesterday reiterated the Government’s official stance that it is now up to the EU to compromise, saying: “There are no credible alternatives on the table. We will hold our nerve, we will keep our cool … If we get a ‘computer says no’ response from the EU we are not going to make progress.” However, he added that he was “always listening to new proposals and new ideas”.
Hard-line Brexiteers in the Cabinet who were reportedly considering resigning ahead of today’s meeting have now made it clear they will stay on and make the case for a Canada-style deal as they feel it is a fight they can win. They will also urge Mrs May to sack Olly Robbins, the civil servant in charge of Brexit negotiations, after blaming him for giving too much ground to the EU.
One Cabinet source told The Daily Telegraph: “In a nutshell, we now face a choice between a Norway-type deal and a Canada-type deal. More than half the Cabinet now support the idea of a Canada-style option, while maybe half a dozen favour Norway.”
Mr Hunt, who has spent the past two months travelling the world discussing Brexit with foreign leaders, is seen by Brexiteers as a man who could “get things moving in the right direction” because he is respected by Mrs May but is also trusted by Eurosceptics to make the argument for a new approach. Several sources confirmed to The Telegraph that Mr Hunt had spoken multiple times to Brexit-supporting Cabinet ministers by telephone in recent days to canvass their views. Although he will not attend today’s
Cabinet, Mrs May will tomorrow join him in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, where he will have a chance to speak to the Prime Minister in private. They could be joined by Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary – one of three Eurosceptic ministers who were said to be considering resigning over Chequers – who will also be at the UN.
A Cabinet insider said: “No one in Cabinet thinks it’s the PM’S fault that we’re in the situation we’re in. They are fuming about Olly Robbins and think he should fall on his sword.
“This has now become about encouraging the PM to change her own mind and lending their support to do that. There’s no sense whatsoever that she needs to go, just that she needs to change her mind.”
However, one Cabinet source warned that if Mrs May dug in her heels and stuck to her Chequers plan she would be putting her premiership on the line, because “as time goes on the pressure gets greater”.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson warns that pursuing the Chequers proposal will lead to a Labour government.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph today he says: “We need to get back to the elegance and uplift of that Lancaster House vision. The Labour leader is set to betray the referendum result by offering – absurdly – another vote. We Conservatives must show that we can and will deliver.”