Customs thinking ‘evolving’ as Tories threaten to revolt

THERESA May has indicated she may be ready to consider new proposals for Britain’s post-Brexit customs arrangements, telling MPs there are “a number of ways” to achieve the Government’s goals.

And her official spokesman told reporters that thinking about the solution for customs was “evolving”.

The Prime Minister was speaking shortly before a crunch meeting of her “Brexit war cabinet”, amid signs that senior ministers are deeply divided over the two options currently on the table.

The European Commission has been pushing back against both UK proposals – a customs partnership under which Britain would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU or a streamlined arrangement using new technology to avoid the need for border checks - with reports that Brussels officials regard them as unworkable.

About 60 Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers have put their name to a report rejecting the partnership arrangement, and Mrs May’s former chief of staff Nick Timothy used an article in The Sun to urge her to ditch it.

Mrs May was challenged by Labour MP Karen Buck at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons on why she was considering two options, both of which were known not to be “feasible”.

She responded that there were “a number of ways” of delivering on the Government’s commitments to leave the customs union while allowing an independent trade policy, avoiding a hard border in Ireland and making trade “as frictionless as possible” with the EU.

When her official spokesman was asked whether this meant that more than two options were now on the table, he said: “The Prime Minister said in the House that there are a number of ways of taking this forward and that is what we are working on.

“Work has been ongoing on two options. That work has been proceeding. Ideas are obviously evolving as we go along. As the Prime Minister said, there are a number of ways to proceed.”

Mrs May is yet to name her preferred customs arrangement, though she is thought to have favoured the partnership scheme, drawn up by her representative in Brexit talks Olly Robbins.

Unconfirmed reports on Tuesday said that Chancellor Philip Hammond had thrown his weight behind the plan.

But the plan has been denounced as “cretinous” by Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), which has sent Mrs May a lengthy report detailing its opposition.

Mr Rees-Mogg insisted he was not issuing an “ultimatum” to the Prime Minister but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the proposal was “deeply unsatisfactory” and would “not get us