May warned Brexit deal will sink her
Sixty Tory rebels tell PM customs proposal with EU could ‘collapse the Government’
THERESA MAY has been warned the Government will “collapse” if she does not abandon plans for a post-brexit customs partnership with the EU.
Sixty Eurosceptic Conservative MPS from the European Research Group, led by Jacob Rees-mogg, have sent the Prime Minister a 30-page report detailing their opposition to the plan.
No10 has been told in correspondence that accepting a customs partnership would be fatal because it would mean Mrs May cannot deliver a clean break from the EU and would therefore lose the backing of Brexiteers.
Sources have told The Daily Telegraph that the Tory faction will consider withdrawing support for government Bills in Parliament, which would lead to legislative paralysis and put Mrs May’s future as leader in doubt.
The threat of rebellion grew when David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, wrote to the Prime Minister, arguing “strongly” against the deal.
Mrs May is expected to choose between a partnership and an alternative “highly streamlined” customs arrangement when the Cabinet’s Brexit negotiating sub-committee meets today.
Mrs May and Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, are expected to make the case for a customs partnership, but the ERG, which has remained loyal despite a string of Brexit concessions, has made it clear that to pursue that end would cross a red line.
One senior minister said the decision would be “a critical moment in our nation’s history”. There are reports that Mr Davis will consider resigning over the issue.
Any revolt would be the biggest of Mrs May’s premiership as the ERG memo has made clear the strength of opposition to her plan.
One ERG source said: “We have swallowed everything so far – but this is it. If they don’t have confidence in Brexit, we don’t have confidence in them. The Prime Minister will not have a majority if she does not kill off the NCP [New Customs Partnership].”
Mr Rees-mogg added: “The customs partnership is incompatible with the Conservative Party manifesto.”
A copy of the report, obtained by The Telegraph, dismantles the argument for such a partnership, which Brexiteers fear will keep Britain effectively in a customs union with the EU after it leaves in March next year. The ERG insists the Government must stick with an alternative arrangement that would use technological solutions and “trusted trader” status schemes to solve the problem of the Irish border.
Liam Fox warned he could quit as International Trade Secretary if Mrs May tried to keep Britain tied to the customs union after Brexit.
The ERG has spoken out after supporting Mrs May over previous concessions – including the £38billion bill to leave the EU, as well as surrendering control over fisheries and allowing freedom of movement during the transition period until the end of 2020. A mass meeting of ERG members
has been called for next Tuesday – the day the full Cabinet is expected to sign off on the deal hammered out today by the Brexit sub-committee.
Last night Iain Duncan-smith, the former Tory leader, said opting for the partnership would leave the Government “bogged down in a complete and total mess”. He said: “The customs partnership is a non-starter and that report kills it stone dead. People have gone along with an awful lot of stuff but we are getting to the point when we really have to make clear decisions about what we want, not what the EU wants.
“Their use of the Northern Ireland border has been a shameless process by the EU and we should have called it out a long time ago. Now is the opportunity to say [to the EU] ‘enough’s enough’ – you either want to make an arrangement or you don’t.”
The report was handed to Mrs May last week by Tory MPS and sent to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, Gavin Barwell, Mrs May’s chief of staff, and Julian Smith, the Chief Whip.
The document, titled “Memorandum – the New Customs Partnership”, sets out a series of reasons why the Government should not accept it as a way to trade with the EU after Brexit.
The memorandum says a customs partnership would prevent the UK from having regulatory autonomy and effectively eliminate the UK’S independent trade policy. It also warns that the inevitable consequence of regulatory alignment is that Britain would not be able to negotiate its own trade deals with non-eu countries.
It makes clear how a customs partnership would mean firms would pay higher EU tariffs just to avoid red tape. It adds there are “risks we would reach the next election having not really left the EU, with no deals elsewhere, and with the EU ... running negotiations with third countries with whom we currently have trade agreements through the EU”.