PUT A SOCK IN IT, PHIL

Ministers vent fury as Chancellor attempts to dilute Brexit

PHILIP Hammond was urged to ‘put a sock in it’ last night as Cabinet anger over his public attempts to dilute Brexit boiled over.

The Chancellor was accused of undermining Theresa May after appearing to rule out the option of walking away from talks without a deal.

Downing Street moved to reassure Leave supporters that Theresa May will end free movement in 2019.

The Chancellor suggested change would take years and that the UK economy would remain ‘recognisably European’.

One Cabinet source said ministers were angry about his attempt to bounce the Government into backing his vision of Brexit while Mrs May was abroad.

‘He should put a sock in it, stop undermining the Prime Minister and get back to developing a sound economic plan,’ the source said.

‘The mood is angry. The PM is leading on Brexit, not him. He and his people need to go away – they are crashing the car before we’ve started to really get stuck into the big discussions.’ No 10 insiders also voiced exasperation at Mr Hammond’s claim last week that ‘literally nobody’ wants a significant fall in EU immigration after Brexit – a view not shared by Mrs May.

There was also concern about his suggestion that a transition deal could last three years – ending barely two months before the scheduled date of the next election.

Former local government minister Andrew Percy suggested the Chancellor should resign if he wished to continue speaking out on Brexit. He said most Eurosceptics were willing to accept a time-limited transition from the EU to give new customs and immigration systems time to bed in.

But in a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Hammond, he criticised ‘almost daily freelancing about the contents of such an agreement’, adding: ‘The current principles of free movement have to end.

‘We need to maintain flexibility, but it cannot retain the current rules because that would not be delivering the will of the people. The only views we need to hear are that of the Government, not members of the Government.

‘If they want to express views as individuals they need to quit and make their views known as backbenchers.’

There was also annoyance in Downing Street that a key immigration announcement was presented as if it would let free movement continue in all but name.

No 10 believes the announcement of a registration scheme for new arrivals from the EU after March 2019 is a significant first step in sketching out a post-Brexit immigration system.

But it was presented by Mr Hammond

‘Stop undermining the Prime Minister’

and Home Secretary Amber Rudd last week as a way of avoiding a ‘cliff-edge’ fall in EU immigration.

The PM’s official spokesman said yesterday that Brexit would not be watered down, adding: ‘Free movement will end in March 2019.

‘We have published proposals on citizens’ rights. There will be a registration system for migrants arriving post-March 2019. Other elements of post-Brexit immigration will be brought forward. It would be wrong to speculate what these might look like or suggest free movement will continue as it is.’

Mrs May’s spokesman also said the PM was clear that any transitional deal – or ‘implementation period’ – would be time limited and would not turn into ‘some kind of permanent political purgatory’.

No10 rejected an ‘off-the- shelf’ transitional deal – such as temporary membership of the European Economic Area – which Mr Hammond told colleagues he favoured.

The row followed Mr Hammond’s latest intervention in which he suggested the Government had all but abandoned the threat to walk away without a deal if Brussels tried to punish the UK.

He used an interview with French newspaper Le Monde to play down suggestions that the UK could turn itself into a corporate tax haven if Brussels played hardball.

‘I often hear it said that the UK is considering participating in unfair competition in regulation and tax,’ he said. ‘That is neither our plan, nor our vision for the future.

‘I would expect us to remain a country with a social, economic and cultural model that is recognisably European.’

Former Brexit minister David Jones said: ‘I was surprised to see the Chancellor’s comments. We are over-taxed. If we want a vibrant economy we need lower taxation.

‘This is another instance of our negotiating position being laid out when these are cards we should be playing close to our chest.

‘It does weaken our position. It is unhelpful, as well as discourteous, to the Prime Minister.’

It was Mr Hammond who first floated the idea of a low-tax, lowregulation model in January. No10 insisted yesterday that Mrs May could still walk away from the negotiations with Brussels.

Leaving the EU is too complicated for politicians and should be managed by a panel of experts, the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday.

Justin Welby said politicians should work on a cross-party basis and focus on key decisions such as whether to quit the single market and leave thousands of others to those with expertise. But No10 rejected the idea of a cross-party commission on Brexit.

‘It does weaken our position’

AFTER days of febrile briefing and counterbriefing by ministers, Theresa May has finally provided some welcome clarity on the Government’s Brexit strategy. Clearly irritated by the posturing of her Chancellor Philip Hammond, she made it plain that free movement would end with Britain’s formal departure from the EU in 2019.

Mr Hammond had spoken of a three-year ‘transition’ after that date, during which little or nothing would change. Yesterday, Downing Street slapped him down, saying that although there may be an adjustment period while a new immigration system was implemented, EU nationals would have to register when entering the country.

Mrs May is clearly irked by the arrogance of her Chancellor in presuming to dictate policy and pretending to speak for the whole Cabinet. Now he’s off round Argentina and Brazil on a trade jaunt, where he’ll doubtless be spouting off again.

It’s about time he stopped this absurd grandstanding, showed some loyalty to his leader and got on with his job – which, in case he’s forgotten, is looking after the economy.