Britain still weeks away from customs decision

LONDON: Britain is weeks away from making a decision on its future customs arrangements with the European Union, a minister said on Sunday, adding fuel to a debate that is all but stalling Brexit talks in Brussels and politics at home.

After local elections last week when Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party did better than many expected, how to make Britain’s new border with the EU “as frictionless as possible” when it leaves the bloc is becoming a headache.

May, dependent on the support of a small Northern Irish party for a majority in parliament, is under pressure from Brexit campaigners to drop what some say is her preferred option of a customs partnership to keep trade flowing freely.

On Sunday, her Business Minister, Greg Clark, again made the case for that partnership, saying ministers were working on it and another hightech option. Both options have been dismissed by EU negotiators.

“I’ve never been so clear-eyed in my life about this. I do feel very strongly, for this reason. It is absolutely right that we should be leaving the customs union... but what we replace it with is of huge importance,” he told the BBC, denying he left a crunch meeting on customs teary-eyed last week.

Clark, who used the example of car maker Toyota which relies on components crossing borders to manufacture cars in Britain, said businesses needed the certainty of what happens next, but warned that it could take some time not only to make a decision, but also to implement it once it had been agreed upon.

His message was supported by businesses and former minister, Amber Rudd, whose resignation from the government could embolden those Conservative lawmakers who are arguing for Britain to maintain the closest possible trading ties with the EU.

Trump mimicked the shooting of victims in the Paris rampage and said if civilians had been armed “it would have been a whole different story’’ MAY UNDER PRESSURE TO DROP WHAT SOME SAY IS HER PREFERRED OPTION OF A CUSTOMS PARTNERSHIP TO KEEP TRADE FLOWING FREELY