Boris Johnson urges Theresa May to keep to a SHORT Brexit transition period so that British companies will get a trade boost
BORIS Johnson urged Theresa May on Wednesday night to keep to a short Brexit transition period to give British companies a trade boost.
The Foreign Secretary’s remarks risk reopening a bitter Cabinet feud over the sensitive issue on the eve of the Tories’ annual conference.
His new intervention comes less than a week after the PM’s top table finally agreed on a rough timescale of “around two years” for the transition.
Starting in March 2019, the ‘status quo’ arrangement stops businesses from suffering a cliff edge, but effectively delays Brexit and its benefits - including new trade deals - until it ends.
The Foreign Secretary said: “When you consider what we have done in the past, you can imagine what our brilliant companies are going to be able to do when they are finally unbound, unshackled, unleashed from the coils and toils of the common commercial policy.
“We have an extraordinary future ahead of us.
“Let’s hope the date is soon upon us without too long a transition period, n’est pas?”
Speaking at the launch of the new Institute for Free Trade, Boris added: “It is only now, after 44 years, that we are finally taking back control of our tariffs and schedules.
“It is only now that the UK is able to resume its historic function as the world’s leading campaigner and agitator for free trade.”
A row has raged all summer over the length of any transition deal, which Theresa May formally called for during her Florence speech last week.
Its precise length is still not pinned down and is still a source of conflict on Cabinet.
Boris revealed he is still agitating for it to be shorter than two years, while Brexit Secretary David Davis said this week it should be “up to two years”.
On the other side of the row, Chancellor Philip has said the period could last three or even four years.
The Foreign Secretary was backed by senior Tory Eurosceptic MP Bill Cash, who told The Sun that Boris was “stating the bleeding obvious”.
No10 is desperate to keep a lid on deep Tory tensions over Brexit when the party gathers for its first annual conference since the general election disaster in Manchester on Sunday.
Also marking the institute’s launch was International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who dubbed free trade as “within our national DNA”.
Pro EU Labour MP and Open Britain campaign supporter Pat McFadden accused the two Cabinet ministers of damaging the government’s Brexit negotiations.
Mr McFadden said: “Any Prime Minister with an ounce of strength would not permit her Cabinet colleagues to launch think tanks undermining the Government’s policy.
“But this just shows how weak Theresa May’s position has become.
“The Florence truce has not lasted long.”
