Yahoo Finance Pro-EU MPs 'plotting to defeat government over hard Brexit'
A group of pro-Europe MPs is planning to derail parts of Theresa May’s Brexit plan, it has been reported.
The cross-party group believes it can steer the government away from a hard Brexit by targeting key areas of the negotiations.
Specifically, reports the Financial Times, the group will be looking at areas such as the Open Skies aviation arrangements, the customs union and Euratom, the nuclear regulator.
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The MPs want to avoid what many commentators would be a disastrous “no deal is better than a bad deal” scenario.
However, political loyalties may hamper their efforts. As one Tory MP said: “There is a measure of co-operation but none of us want to help [shadow chancellor] John McDonnell or [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn.”
However, a Labour MP was more optimistic, telling the FT: “There is a sweet spot where we all agree, Labour backbenchers, some Tories, and the Labour leadership, it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.”
The development comes as the UK sets out the “ambitious new customs arrangement” it wants to secure with the EU after Brexit – including a “temporary customs union”.
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The customs union is designed to offset potential border problems as the UK leaves the bloc.
Ministers said the plans would mean the “freest and most frictionless possible trade” with the rest of Europe.
But, crucially, the document published on Tuesday also makes clear that during this period, Britain would also expect to be able to negotiate its own international trade deals – something it cannot do as an EU customs union member.
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that he envisioned the interim customs system being “as close as we can to the current arrangements”, but with the UK able to negotiate and sign its own international trade deals.
He did not rule out the UK paying to be part of the arrangement, but would not speculate further on any details.
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A European Commission spokesman said: “We will now study the UK position paper on customs carefully in the light of the European Council guidelines and the council’s negotiating directives.”
Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, along with a whole host of Eurocrats, has warned repeatedly that the UK will not be able to simply walk away from the EU and sign new trade deals without some pain.
“As Michel Barnier has said on several occasions, ‘frictionless trade’ is not possible outside the single market and customs union,” added the EC spokesman.
