‘The customs union means ceding power to Lithuania’
The Transport Secretary tells Christopher Hope it is a ‘myth’ that a trading policy set by the EU would have no strings attached
‘It is more likely than not that the next leader will be someone who campaigned for Brexit’
Remaining in a customs union after Brexit would allow a far smaller country like Lithuania to dictate the UK’S terms of trade with the Commonwealth, Chris Grayling warns today. The Transport Secretary spells out the risks to the UK of staying in a customs union – which MPS could coalesce around in a series of indicative votes today in Parliament – in stark terms.
Mr Grayling – who is close to Theresa May – also says the Prime Minister’s replacement should be a well-established Brexit-supporting figure, in a blow to younger candidates such as Dominic Raab and Liz Truss.
One of the claimed big advantages to leaving the European Union has been that the UK can re-engage with Commonwealth countries and trade with them more freely than it can as an EU member.
However, Mr Grayling warns that remaining in a customs union would see the UK’S trading policy set by the 27 EU member states such as Lithuania and other Eastern European nations.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he says: “Are we really going to accept the situation where the government of Lithuania has more power over our trading relationship with the Commonwealth than our government does?
“That is the reality of the customs union.”
Mr Grayling says it is a “myth” that entering a customs union would mean that companies “can move things seamlessly across borders” and could see the UK not being allowed to control immigration.
He says: “Turkey has a customs union with the EU – it still means there are checks on the border between Turkey and the EU.
“It is not going to come without strings attached – the idea that we just get a customs arrangement without having to sign up to a raft of single market legislation is extremely unlikely.
“People who sign up to the customs union are basically signing up to single market as well. And that leaves us mostly in the European Union – it certainly does not give us control of our own laws.”
Mr Grayling was speaking in his House of Commons office on Friday
– the day the UK should have left the EU – shortly after Mrs May told MPS she would quit 10 Downing Street.
Mr Grayling, 57, who has been on the front bench for 17 years and held four Cabinet posts, is adamant that he will “absolutely never, under any circumstances” join the Grand National-sized field of Tory MPS who want to replace Mrs May.
Instead, he says the party should elect an experienced minister who can then bring on younger colleagues, with a view to stepping down after the 2022 election.
He says: “It may be that we are planning two things rather than one.
“Planning somebody who has got the experience and resilience to get us through the immediate future.
“But then ... we have got a really good generation of younger politicians in their 40s who can make a real impact who are going to be the leadership of the party in the future. Is the person who takes us through the next two or three years – and sorts out Brexit and gets the hard time that Theresa has had – the same person who we want to be leading us into the 2027 general election?”
“I am a Manchester United supporter, Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer]’s now at the wheel, part of his job is to bring on a new dynamic team of younger players. The job of the next Conservative leader is to do just
that.” He adds “it is more likely than not that the next leader will be someone who campaigned for Brexit” although he would not want to exclude “Cabinet ministers who have worked very hard to ensure that the result of the referendum is fulfilled” who voted to remain in 2016.
Mr Grayling is firmly against an election to break the deadlock: “For us to go through the indulgence of a six or seven week election campaign, through the weeks when we are supposed to be leaving the European Union, while business is sitting on stockpiles of goods – this would be completely not in the national interest and might well deliver another indeterminate result.”
A second EU referendum will also do little good, he says, asking: “What happens if there is a narrow win for remain but with fewer than 17.4million votes. Is that a credible result – are we going to have best of three?”
Looking ahead into another crucial few days in the House of Commons, Mr Grayling warns John Bercow, who voted Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, that needs to be “very careful” not to show bias in the debate over Brexit.
The Speaker will today select a number of Brexit options to be put to MPS and later this week could be asked by the Government to allow another vote on Mrs May’s exit deal.
He says: “We have a very difficult few days ahead of us – it is really important that he upholds the traditions of his office and takes a very dispassionate view of the different pressures in the house.
“I just want him to be really careful to ensure he is following the principles of his job and is not tempted by the arguments one way or another.”
Mr Grayling gives short shrift to Sir Oliver Letwin, the brains behind a plan to let MPS take control of the Brexit process. “I don’t approve of what he is doing, he is somebody who is changing constitutional precedent in a way I am surprised that he has chosen to do.”
Mr Grayling, who ran Mrs May’s leadership campaign in 2016, paid tribute to the Tory leader saying: “Theresa is a good woman ... People may judge she made mistakes along the way – everyone makes mistakes.
“But she has done her level best to deliver the best outcome for Britain. There are people who criticise but she has done her best to do the right thing. It is very sad. I am sorry it has come to this.”
The solution to the crisis is for the 34 hardline Brexit-backing Tory MPS and the 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPS to back her Withdrawal Agreement.
“We cannot afford to let Brexit slip away – the political price, the reputational damage to the country is too great,” he says.
“I have got great respect for the DUP – I like them all individually – my judgement is they have got this one wrong.” Mr Grayling is clear though that leaving the EU without a deal on April 12 would not be “unmitigated disaster”.
He says: “It is interesting to watch some of the warnings that have diminished over the years so the expectation about what would happen to the economy have not been quite as dire.
“We are as ready as we can be. I do not believe that as a country we are completely ill-prepared for a no-deal Brexit. It is not the optimal solution, it is not the best outcome for Britain, but we will do much better than people expect.”