Brexiteers unveil plan to scrap tariffs as part of agreement with EU

CRITICS OF Theresa May’s Brexit deal have published proposals for a future free trade agreement between the EU and UK which they claim will deliver the “most advanced and liberalising” conditions ever seen.

The document – part of a sequence of reports released under the slogan A Better Deal – proposes zero tariffs and no restrictions in quantity for trade in goods and agricultural and food products and “maximum liberalisation” for services.

It proposes “state of the art” highly facilitated customs clearance arrangements between the EU and UK. On the movement of labour, it calls for easier access to temporary business visas, while on the movement of capital it proposes free flows between the EU and UK.

The two sides would be barred from erecting technical barriers to trade or using standards as a means of making trade more difficult. And both sides would have to commit not to use subsidies or state aid to distort markets.

Written by international trade policy experts Shanker Singham and Robert MacLean, the document states that its proposals would preserve the UK’s ability to strike trade deals around the world and make changes to its own domestic relations.

Speaking at its launch in Westminster, former Brexit Secretary David Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden, said the group wanted to create a draft treaty that allows the UK to “pursue other free trade agreements”.

He suggested the UK’s exit should not be delayed by more than a few weeks in order to secure an amended deal – after several Cabinet ministers said Britain may not leave on March 29.