Boris and Gove in face off with Cabinet Remainers to fight post-Brexit Customs Union
GETTY Boris Johnson and Michael Gove will reportedly warn against joining a post-Brexit Customs Union
The confrontation will reportedly mark the first time senior Government members have debated the issue. The three ministers will argue that the UK must be allowed to strike its own free trade deals after leaving the EU, it has been reported. But Phillip Hammond, Amber Rudd and Greg Clark are understood to want to adopt a new Customs Union with the EU so that they can limit the loss of trade with the Brussels bloc.
Theresa May earlier this week refused to rule out signing the UK up to a Customs Union with the EU after Brexit. Downing Street later clarified that the Prime Minister had an “open mind” on the issue. Last month, Phillip Hammond also did not rule out joining a new Customs Union with the EU when asked about the possibility of doing so by Treasury select committee chairwoman Nicky Morgan.
Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels Thu, December 14, 2017 Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels: The MPs who backed the amendment to the Brexit bill. Play slideshow Getty 1 of 12 Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels
However, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox earlier this week stated that Britain should not be part of a Customs Union that would prevent Britain from striking free trade deals with non-EU countries. He said: “It is very difficult to see how being in a customs union is compatible with having an independent trade policy, because we would therefore be dependent on what the EU negotiated in terms of its trading policies, and we’d be following behind that. "We have to be outside of that [any Customs Union] to take advantage of those growing markets. One of the reasons we are leaving the European Union is to take control and that’s not possible with a common external tariff.”
GETTY Theresa May earlier this week refused to rule out signing the UK up to a Customs Union with the EU
News of a potentially heated Cabinet dispute over Brexit comes after earlier this week tapes emerged of Charles Grant, the director of the pro-Remain think tank, the Centre for European Reform, recounting private conversations about Brexit with Treasury officials. Mr Grant told guests at a dinner held by the pro-EU Prospect magazine that it was “not certain” Britain would completely end Brussels rule by staying in its Customs Union. He said: “The Treasury is determined to stay in the Customs Union.