Brexit pressure mounts on May

CHEQUERS PLAN: CRITICISED BY BORIS JOHNSON

London

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy means disaster for Britain, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said, as critics at home and officials in Brussels step up their opposition to her plans for how to leave the European Union.

With under two months before Britain and the EU want to agree a deal to end over 40 years of union, May is struggling to sell what she calls her business-friendly Brexit to her own party and across a divided country.

Johnson, who some in the governing Conservative Party favour as a potential successor to May, resigned in July in protest at the prime minister’s so-called Chequers plan.

“In adopting the Chequers proposals, we have gone into battle with the white flag fluttering over our leading tank. If we continue on this basis we will throw away most of the advantages of Brexit,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper yesterday. “People can see Chequers means disaster.”

May’s plan, designed to protect cross-border trade with the EU, will mean Britain loses control over its direction, preventing it from becoming more competitive and doing major trade deals with other countries, he said.

“We will remain in the EU taxi; but this time locked in the boot, with no say on the destination.”

On Sunday, May sought to allay fears she would cave in to Brussels’ demands in negotiations, saying she would not allow compromises to her Brexit strategy that went against the national interest. – Reuters