Backstop deal ‘will be impossible to escape’
Ministers will not be able to change Theresa May’s customs backstop once the UK has signed up to it, Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, has warned ministers. His comments come amid mounting Cabinet opposition to the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan. Mr Cox is reported to have told ministers that Britain has a choice to accept a backstop agreement it could not subsequently get out of, push for a ‘‘no deal’’ or renounce the backstop completely.
THE head of the Civil Service has resigned to concentrate on his treatment for cancer. Sir Jeremy Heywood stepped down as cabinet secretary and said it was with “great sadness” that he is retiring on medical advice.
Theresa May, the Prime Minister, has nominated Sir Jeremy for a life peerage in recognition of his “distinguished service to public life”.
He will be succeeded by Sir Mark Sedwill, who has been acting cabinet secretary since June. He will also continue as National Security Adviser.
In his resignation statement, Sir Jeremy criticised recent attacks on the impartiality of the Civil Service over Brexit. He said: “During my time in charge, I have encouraged the Civil Service to be more open, more diverse, more inclusive in its culture and more professional in all that it does.
“And, despite a number of recent ‘noises off ’ from anonymous commentators, I believe that the service is in robust health, well-equipped to provide the support the country needs over the coming months and years.”
He said that throughout his career he has seen it as his responsibility to “look for fresh angles, to challenge lazy thinking and to work with colleagues
‘During my time in charge, I have encouraged the Civil Service to be more open, more diverse, more inclusive’
to find solutions rather than simply identifying problems and obstacles that everyone can admire”.
According to The Times Mrs May argued that the crisis over Brexit meant it was right to install Sir Mark without due process as Britain’s most senior civil servant.
A senior Whitehall figure said that Mrs May was “always going to choose Mark had he wanted it”.