Tag: Customs union

Talks between Labour and the government are unlikely to advance much further in the coming week unless Theresa May moves on her red lines over a future customs union, sources close to the talks have suggested. Labour has suggested the ball is in the government’s court and, while the opposition will engage on other topics including workers’ rights and security, the key question on customs arrangements remains unresolved. “We think it is possible to get the benefits of a customs union but still have the flexibility for the UK to pursue an independent trade policy on top of that with other countries outside the EU. He said there was “no date ringed in the calendar” for the talks to end but if agreement could not be reached on some form of Brexit deal then he hoped the two sides would be able to agree a binding mechanism for parliament to agree a way forward. May and Corbyn are not expected to be involved in the talks this week during the Easter recess, though Tory MPs expect speculation over the prime minister’s position and leadership jostling to continue. I think those dates still stand,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the two peers said there was “nothing standing in their way” if MPs agreed to change the rules, though the committee’s current chair, Sir Graham Brady, said he was “less certain that it would be possible to change the rules during the current period of grace”. “There has been a stop Boris campaign since the days of Michael Howard pushing forward Cameron and Osborne,” she tweeted. Many of those with their own eye on No 10 aren’t a fan of that prospect.” Duncan Smith said many in the party were deeply concerned about the most recent polling predicting a Labour lead of up to seven points and dire forecasts for the local and EU elections. “The big problem was as soon as we didn’t leave, you could see all the poll ratings start to crash.”

MPs will be asked to consider a range of alternative Brexit options after parliament seized control of the Commons agenda to force a series of “indicative votes”. The plan includes a comprehensive customs union with a UK say on future trade deals; close alignment with the single market; matching new EU rights and protections; participation in EU agencies and funding programmes; and agreement on future security arrangements, including access to the European arrest warrant. The motion proposes UK membership of the European Free Trade Association (Efta) and European Economic Area (EEA). Customs union This plan requires a commitment to negotiate a “permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” in any Brexit deal. Malthouse compromise plan A A cross-party proposal calls for Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement to be implemented with the controversial “backstop” for the Irish border replaced by alternative arrangements. It has been signed by 28 MPs, including the SNP’s Angus Brendan MacNeil and the Tory MP Ken Clarke. The motion was also signed by Conservative MPs including former minister Nicky Morgan and head of the Brexit Delivery Group, Simon Hart. Consent of devolved institutions Backed by SNP MPs including Ian Blackford, Kirsty Blackman and Stephen Gethins, this motion requires an agreement that the UK will not leave without a deal, and that no action for leaving the EU will be taken without a consent motion passed in both the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly. How did your MP vote on the indicative votes amendment? Contingent reciprocal arrangements A similar group of Tory MPs have backed a proposal calling for the government to “at least reciprocate the arrangements put in place by the EU and or its member states to manage the period following the UK’s departure from the EU”, in case the UK is unable to implement a withdrawal agreement.

As the 27 EU heads of state and government took a decisive step towards sealing the terms of Britain’s split from Brussels after 45 years of membership, the French president laid down his red lines in the talks over the future relationship. I can’t imagine that the desire of Theresa May or her supporters is to remain for the long term in a customs union, but to define a proper future relationship which resolves this problem.” Play Video 1:14 He added: “We will concentrate our efforts in order to obtain access to the British waters before the end of the transition period. Juncker warned British MPs planning to send May back to Brussels by voting down her Brexit deal that it would take the EU just “seconds” to crush their hopes. “Those who think that by rejecting the deal that they would have a better deal will be disappointed in the first seconds after the rejection of this deal.” Not sad but defiant: Theresa May makes case for Brexit deal Read more “I am inviting those who have to ratify this deal in the House of Commons to take this into consideration: this is the best deal possible for Britain, this is the best deal possible for Europe,” he added. If MPs reject the deal, there are seven possible paths the country could go down next. MPs knuckle under and vote it through. Labour tries to force an election The opposition tables a vote of no confidence. Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said leaders had made a “conscious decision” not to discuss an alternative to the deal, adding it was a case of “this deal or no deal”. Asked if there was any divergence in views within the EU, an official said Juncker’s comments had been a “very realistic assessment that after this tortuous and long negotiation that what is on the table is the only possible deal given the positions of the UK”, in a possible indication that only a major shift in the British government’s red lines could offer hope of further negotiations. The agreement had appeared at risk in the days leading up to the summit, when Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, threatened to withhold support unless Britain conceded that the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, over which Spain has a long-running territorial claim, would be covered by a future trade deal only with Madrid’s consent.

Brexit phrasebook: what is the customs union? Customs union members cannot negotiate their own trade deals outside the EU, which is why leaving it – while hopefully negotiating a bespoke arrangement – has been one of the government’s Brexit goals. He fully supports the prime minister’s position that this means leaving the customs union.” Although the loss of other pledges in negotiations have been reluctantly accepted, such as the promise to reclaim control over fishing quotas from March 2019, accepting continued membership of a customs union would be of a different and much larger scale. Morgan is one of the 12 select committee chairs who are backing that policy in a potentially difficult debate in the Commons on Thursday on customs union membership. “The majority of the party would not entertain a leadership contest at the moment and those who want to ... should think very carefully if they really want to intervene in the negotiations in the way a leadership contest would.” Labour MP Chuka Umunna, and pro-remain Tory Anna Soubry have tabled amendments to the trade and customs bill, due to be debated on Thursday, that would make staying in the customs union a legal objective of the government. In the House of Lords, the government is braced for more defeats as peers begin a second week of votes on the EU withdrawal bill on Monday. Last week, 24 Tory peers backed the customs union amendment. The government nearly lost a vote in the Commons on a similar amendment, which seeks to incorporate the charter into the legislation. Scared about your human rights after Brexit? The government is vulnerable on the issue, with Tory rebels such as the former attorney general Dominic Grieve only dropping their opposition when the bill passed its earlier stages after ministers pledged to publish a review of the rights conferred by the charter and set out their view.

Downing Street has insisted it will not back down on leaving the customs union, as pro-Brexit MPs signalled their resolve over the issue ahead of a key week for the future of the UK’s relations with Europe. “The position remains very clear: we don’t think staying in a customs union is the right thing to do and it isn’t government policy to do so,” a Downing Street source said. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, reiterated the point on BBC1’s Breakfast on Monday. “She has said that we are not going to be part of the customs union or any customs union. “I’ve heard many times the prime minister say that it is our policy to leave the single market and customs union. “More importantly, on a three-line whip, we have twice now had formal, important votes in the House of Commons on this, and the House of Commons voted on both occasions by a big margin that we should leave the single market and the customs union.” Asked if the prime minister might shift her policy, Redwood said: “Theresa May won’t change her mind, I assume, because she’s been crystal clear on this throughout, and the Conservative manifesto was quite clear on this, and we need to stick to our word.” The BBC later reported that No 10 could even decree that any vote on staying in the customs union via amendments tabled by Tory remainers would be seen as an issue of confidence in the government. However, a Downing Street source dismissed this. Kenneth Clarke, who has supported one of these amendments, told Today the issue had “suddenly become panic of the day among the apparatchiks in Downing Street”. Any customs union makes it effectively impossible to negotiate free trade deals with other countries – one of the government’s key ambitions and a central justification for leaving the EU. At least 10 Conservative backbenchers have signed an amendment to the trade and customs bill supporting continued membership.

We will continue to work with the UK and Scottish governments to that end. In his speech Lidington also said the Tories were “too slow” to accept the case for devolution. Some powers are clearly related to the UK as a whole and will need to continue to apply in the same way across all four nations in order to protect consumers and businesses who buy and sell across the UK, in all parts of what we might call the United Kingdom’s common market. (It was very odd for a minister in a government committed to Brexit to be giving a speech in favour of the common market, but that’s another matter.) On the Daily Politics, asked if he was willing to vote with Labour on this issue, he replied: He also described Corbyn’s speech as “vacuous”, and went on: (@daily_politics) "It does not sound like you are are going to get what you want" @Jo_Coburn to @S_Hammond "If you don't, will you press ahead, voting with Labour MPs... to force the government to make sure the UK does stay within a customs union?" 2 - But Corbyn has also made it clear that customs union membership would be conditional on the UK retaining “a say” in EU trade deals. I do not agree with or accept the idea there has to be competition in mail delivery. Here is the key passage. Government ministers don’t make this point in their speeches. We are serious, very serious, about investing in every community of the country.