Brexit news: Jacob Rees-Mogg hits out at Theresa May over customs union
GETTY Brexit news: Jacob Rees-Mogg has hit out at Prime Minister Theresa May
Jacob Rees-Mogg hit out at Mrs May, who is working on two customs proposals to economically streamline the process of leaving the EU. He said Mrs May’s “customs partnership” proposal, which would see the UK collect import tariffs on behalf of the EU was unworkable. The hardline Brexiteer said in Parliament today: “It’s completely cretinous, it’s a betrayal of good sense. “I cannot understand why government is faffing around with this system. “I’m on the same side as Mr Barnier on this, god bless him.”
Top 10 of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s best Brexit quotes Thu, February 8, 2018 The Conservative MP is known for his upper-class mannerisms and traditionalist views Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 ‘Civil servants are anti-Brexit’
He said Britain could not remain in the customs union in any way if it wished to truly leave the bloc and called on Mrs May to toughen up her Brexit approach. Mr Rees-Mogg said the Prime Minister is a “very enigmatic figure” and said it is difficult to understand the “level of enthusiasm”. And the backbencher said no deal remained better than a bad deal - and a no deal situation was “actually a pretty good deal”. Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Things like staying in the customs union would be a bad deal. It would not be delivering the result of the referendum.
"There are two parts of the customs union... the common external tariff means you cannot offer lower tariffs to trading partners in rest of the world, then there is the regulatory side. "Being in the customs union means you become a tariff taker and rule taker and you end up worse off than you would be as a member of the EU. And Mr Rees-Mogg also lashed out at Mrs May’s predecessor David Cameron for his role in the referendum - before sarcastically thanking him for his input.
JOEY MILLAR Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking at an Open Europe event in the House of Commons today