Brexiteers threaten May with open revolt

THERESA MAY faces being publicly denounced by Cabinet’s most senior Brexiteers if she steamrolls their objections to her favoured plans for a customs deal with the EU, senior figures have said.

Cabinet sources warned the Prime Minister not to attempt to force through a “hybrid” proposal which they said would fail to meet promises made during the referendum campaign and in the Tories’ 2017 manifesto.

Senior figures also warned that Britain was “losing time” in the negotiations both because of the delay in Mrs May making a final decision on a plan for future customs arrangements, and as a result of No10 putting off a Commons vote on keeping the UK in the tariff-free customs union.

Last week Downing Street said work on the two options for a customs deal was “ongoing”, after Brexiteers, backed by Sajid Javid, the new Home Secretary, and Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, opposed No10’s plans for a customs partnership in which Britain would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU and companies would have to claim back rebates.

Both sides admit neither proposal is “perfect”, but Brexiteers say the hybrid partnership arrangement would prevent free trade deals being struck and is a “trojan horse for a customs union”.

Proponents of Mrs May’s favoured plan insist the Brexiteers’ alternative, a so-called “maximum facilitation” plan, would require a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic and is therefore unsellable.

No10 is attempting to win the support of Mr Javid and Mr Williamson, both of whom backed the Remain campaign in 2016, for the partnership plan by coming up with “improvements”. A Whitehall source said: “The Prime Minister has personally been calling in various members of the Cabinet.”

But a Cabinet source said: “It would be unimaginable for the Prime Minister to press on with the hybrid model after it has been torn apart by members of her own Brexit committee.

“Overruling the committee would see many Brexiteers lose faith in the current leadership. The PM should instead adopt the ‘max fac’ option and not try to force through a plan which would fail to meet the promises made during the referendum and in the Tory manifesto.”

A leading Brexiteer who discussed the issue with Cabinet ministers last week added: “I don’t think you’re going to see a mass walkout. But neither do I think you’ll see them being silent in the event of the judgment going the other way.”

Another Cabinet source accused No10 of being “disingenuous” by including elements such as security cameras in its definition of a hard

border. “If Downing Street sets a very tight definition ... of course there are limited solutions,” the source said. Shanker Singham, of the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, said it was impossible to avoid “minimal” infrastructure. The Government should simply pledge not to “significantly harden the border in ways that damage the Good Friday Agreement”.

Last week Dominic Raab, a Brexiteer minister, publicly spoke in favour of the “max fac” plan. Sources suggested that Cabinet Brexiteers such as David Davis, Liam Fox, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove would also make public interventions if No10 press ahead with the alternative. A Whitehall source said: “The Prime Minister has made clear both solutions are on the table but not in their current form and has tasked both sides with coming back with improvements.”

A Downing Street source said: “We are working hard to find a solution, not threatening to overrule anybody.”