Johnson to tear up Brexit deal ground rules

BORIS JOHNSON is preparing to tear up part of the Brexit deal as he sets out his red lines today for a trade agreement with the EU.

The Prime Minister has made it clear he will not be bound by the political declaration attached to the EU Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out ground rules for a trade deal. Downing Street sources said the rules of engagement agreed by Mr Johnson last year had been superseded by promises made in the Tory manifesto on which he was elected.

Mr Johnson believes he is within his rights to go back on previous agreements covering areas including borders, fishing rights and state aid.

It puts him on a collision course with Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, who says the political decla- ration must be followed to the letter.

The political declaration, originally requested by Theresa May when she was prime minister, is a statement of intent from both sides setting out their broad aims for a trade deal. Mr Johnson

‘We are ready to offer the UK super-preferential access to our markets – a level of access unprecedented’

signed up to it when Parliament passed the Withdrawal Agreement in January.

However, No10 pointed out Brussels had quietly dropped some commitments it made in the political declaration when it published its own negotiating mandate this week, proving the agreement was not binding.

Among the previous agreements Mr Johnson will ditch when he publishes the UK’S negotiating mandate are an acceptance of a “level playing field” designed to yoke Britain to EU standards and regulations; an agreement to negotiate over fishing rights; and rules governing state aid.

A senior Tory source said: “The Prime Minister’s mandate was derived from the manifesto, published after the agreement of the political declaration and is clear about the Government’s intention, which is to get a Canada-style trade agreement and take back control of our borders, laws and money.”

Earlier this month Mr Johnson said progress on agreements for financial services and personal data protection would be “a test of the constructive nature of the negotiating process”.

But a pledge in the political declaration to agree by June 2020 on financial services and by the end of December on data were both dropped by Brussels in the EU’S negotiating mandate.

Sources said this meant the Prime Minister was fully entitled to ignore elements of the declaration. Britain will not sign up to EU rules on state aid or build any infrastructure to deal with customs declarations on goods crossing from the mainland to Northern Ireland, despite EU demands to do so.

Mr Barnier said: “We are ready to offer the UK super-preferential access to our markets – a level … unprecedented for a third country. Is this something we can do without firm guarantees that the UK will respect the level playing field and avoid unfair competitive advantages? … We cannot.”

He said whatever the outcome of the trade talks, there would be checks on goods entering the EU from Britain after Dec 31. “We cannot take the risk that the UK becomes a kind of assembly hub for goods from all over the world, allowing them to enter the single market as British goods,” he said.