A Plan B for Brexit is needed

Theresa May is adamant that it is either her Brexit plan or nothing. In his lengthy article in The Telegraph today, Boris Johnson takes issue with that assertion and sets out an alternative approach that would keep the promises previously made to leave the EU in a manner that fulfils the referendum mandate to return control to the UK.

Mr Johnson resigned from the Cabinet in July in protest at the policy thrashed out at Chequers, so his antipathy to that plan is well known. In the meantime, however, it has become clear that not only does he and many Conservative (and Opposition) MPS oppose Chequers, but so does the EU. Mrs May’s humiliation at Salzburg last week should have convinced the Prime Minister that her way is a dead end. Instead, she has decided to plough ahead with a set of proposals hardly anyone thinks can work.

The alternative put forward by Mr Johnson – as it was by the European Research Group of Conservative MPS recently – is for Britain to seek a Canada-style trade deal when talks on the future relationship begin after Brexit.

But as Mrs May observed en route to the UN summit in New York this week, that would not solve the problem of the Irish border, in that the so-called “backstop” to which she has agreed would mean Northern Ireland staying – unlike the rest of the UK – in a customs union with the EU, thus breaking the Union.

Mr Johnson’s answer to this conundrum is for Mrs May to withdraw that promise. As he appreciates, that would mean a different type of withdrawal agreement would have to be negotiated and the Irish border question settled as part of future economic arrangements. It would, indeed, be a “difficult step” for Mrs May, who made the ill-advised pledge last December in order to move on to the next stage of the talks, only to find that it is proving an insuperable stumbling block to an acceptable agreement.

It may be a difficult step, but it is one she must be ready to make if the impasse is to be broken. We are just weeks away from what is supposed to be the summit to settle the withdrawal agreement and only six months away from Brexit itself. We need a Plan B, and Mr Johnson is offering one. Not only Mrs May, but the Cabinet, too, need to consider that with time running out, accelerating towards the cliff edge is no longer a realistic option.