PM’s Brexit blueprint revealed

Britain WILL set its own tariffs – but Brexiteers could reject May’s plan to match Brussels rules

BRITAIN will secure the right to set its own tariffs and trade policy under a controversial ‘third way’ Brexit option to be debated by ministers at Chequers tomorrow.

Whitehall sources last night dismissed reports that the compromise plan would force the UK to continue to impose EU tariffs after Brexit – an idea that would have wrecked hopes of striking new trade deals. Instead, 96 per cent of imports will be covered by tariffs set by the British Parliament.

Sources also denied claims that Theresa May is prepared to compromise on free movement in order to secure a better trade agreement.

But they acknowledged that she will ask ministers to sign up to the idea of ‘full regulatory alignment’ with the EU on goods in order to increase the chances of a ‘frictionless’ trade pact with Brussels and resolve the Northern Ireland border problem.

The move will alarm Eurosceptics, who warned yesterday that it could limit the UK’s ability to strike new trade deals. The third way is so called because it is a compromise between a ‘maximum facilitation’ deal backed by Brexiteers – which would slash customs controls and barriers between the UK and EU and allow Britain to sign accords with non-EU Nations because Britain would not have to comply with EU tariffs – a new customs partnership, which is backed by Remainers.

In an effort to calm nerves, No 10 offered to take the highly unusual step of briefing MPs on the Chequers agreement on Saturday morning.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Tory MPs, said regulatory alignment with Brussels would be unacceptable.

‘That is not Brexit,’ Mr Rees-Mogg said. ‘It is important that we are not in regulatory alignment because we will need to do trade deals with other countries.

‘We need to be able to accept from countries with high standards, such as Canada and Australia, goods that are produced to similar if not identical standards.’

Boris Johnson has also argued against regulatory alignment in Cabinet, but has accepted there may be some limited scope for it.

But Mrs May will warn ministers tomorrow they have to come up with a proposal that will not be rejected out of hand by Brussels and Remainers in Parliament.

Some pro-Brexit ministers believe there is no need to kill the proposal because it will be blocked by the EU,

‘Keep their promises’

which has insisted that the UK cannot have full access to the single market unless it accepts free movement and the full EU rulebook.

Mrs May will today try to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel not to dismiss the proposals.

A group of more than 40 Eurosceptic MPs held a stormy meeting with Chief Whip Julian Smith to warn they would not accept a deal that keeps Britain in the EU in all but name.

Andrea Jenkyns, who quit the Government to speak out on Brexit last month, urged Eurosceptic cabinet ministers such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to ‘show your steel’ at Chequers. She also warned Mrs May: ‘Prime Ministers keep their jobs if they keep their promises.’

In the Commons yesterday, Mrs May was challenged by Tory MPs to make it clear she would not backtrack on previous Brexit pledges.

Mrs May said the Cabinet was ‘working to deliver... a Brexit that ensures that we are out of the customs union, we are out of the single market, we are out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice … but we are also able to have a good trade arrangement with the European Union, protecting jobs and prosperity for the future’.

Downing Street yesterday said Mrs May retained her view that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’.