Liam Fox wins Cabinet battle to get historic trade bill included in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday

DR LIAM FOX has won a Cabinet battle to get a historic trade bill included in Wednesday's Queen’s Speech, The Sun can reveal.

The new law will enable Britain to take back control of trade policy from Brussels for the first time in decades and transfer the power to collect tariffs back to Westminster.

A Whitehall source said “everything was up in the air” following Theresa May’s failure to win a majority and Cabinet ministers had to fight for parliamentary time for their bill to get in the Queen’s Speech.

Dr Fox, the International Trade Secretary, fought against attempts to delay a trade bill amid fears Europhile Cabinet ministers are trying to soften Brexit.

It was one of 13 planned Brexit contingency bills that Eurosceptics feared would be frozen as Remainers attempt to exploit the PM’s election disaster.

But following a series of discussions Dr Fox won his battle to keep his trade bill.

A Whitehall insider told The Sun: “There will be a trade bill in the Queen’s Speech.”

The Government will aim to get the bill through Parliament within the next 12 months so it is ready in plenty of time for Brexit.

Dr Fox’s victory comes after his Cabinet rival Philip Hammond cast doubt on whether Britain would be in a position to strike new trade deals when we leave the EU in March 2019.

The Chancellor said the EU’s customs union could be replaced by a similar arrangement - raising the possibility of Britain still being barred from negotiating new trade bills even after Brexit and making Dr Fox’s job pointless.

Asked if Britain will have left the customs union within five years, Mr Hammond said at the weekend: “Well look, it depends. If we’re restricted on being able to enter into new free trade deals with third countries during an interim period that won’t stop us negotiating and preparing.

“Normally these deals take quite a long time to negotiate. It also won’t stop us in any way from negotiating deals around services, particularly financial services, an area where the UK has got a huge comparative advantages.”

The revelation of the trade bill surviving the election came after Tory MPs warned about the consequences of ditching it.

Tory MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke said a new trade law was essential to have in place far in advance of Brexit day in two years’ time.

He told The Sun: “At the Dover front line we know we have to be ready on day one. We need to plan now to be ready on day one.

“A trade bill is vital if we’re going to successfully leave the customs union - and turn Britain into a truly global trading nation.”

Tory MP and Brexit campaigner Jacob Rees Mogg warned: “Without a trade bill once we leave, we have no legal basis for any tariffs or quotas as they all come out of EU law which would have ceased.”

Brussels currently negotiates trade deals and collects tariffs on behalf of Britain but the new law will transfer that power back to Westminster.

The trade bill also sends a firm warning to EU leaders that Theresa May is not bluffing with her threat to walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal.

The law will help brand Mrs May’s Brexit plan ‘Global Britain’.