Theresa May vows Britain WILL have its own independent trade policy after 2020 and denies Britain will stay in stifling customs union
THERESA May has insisted Britain WILL have its own trade policy after 2020 denied Britain will stay in the stifling customs union with EU after Brexit.
The Prime Minister rejected suggestions today that she was preparing to remain inside the tariff structure after 2021 as a backstop while the row over the Northern Ireland border continues.
Ministers appeared to remain deadlocked after another crunch meeting inside Number 10 this week, as they decide between Mrs May’s preferred “new customs partnership” plan, or a “maximum facilitation” option favoured by Brexiteers.
But Mrs May insisted this afternoon at a press conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev: "We are very clear, we will be leaving the customs union.
"At the end of the implementation period, at the end of December 2020, we will be an operating an independent trade policy."
We can't strike our own trade deals as part of the EU's collaborative area, but The reported that the Cabinet had agreed on a third "backstop" option as a last resort - to avoid a hard Irish border.
They said the policy was approved on Tuesday, despite objections from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, saying they were "outgunned" at the meeting and reluctantly accepted the plans.
They and other Brexiteers are worried this way forward will keep us tied to Brussels indefinitely and will stop us from striking our own trade deal around the world once we leave.
But this morning the PM was asked if she was climbing down, replying: "No we are not.”
She was speaking as she arrived at the EU Western Balkans summit in the Bulgarian capital Sofia with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mrs May added: "Of course we will be negotiating future customs arrangements with the European Union and I have set three objectives, the Government has three objectives in those."
She added: "We need to be able to have our own independent trade policy, we want as friction-less a border between the UK and the EU so that trade can continue and we want to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland."
The news came just after the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave Mrs May a two week deadline to come up with a new policy proposal for the customs union.
He said he had heard "new thinking" from the British and hinted that it could see continued alignment between the UK and the EU in future.
But the news the UK could stay in the customs union for a longer period drew anger from Jacob Rees-Mogg.
He said: ";We have gone from a clear end point, to an extension, to a proposed further extension with no end point.
"The horizon seems to be unreachable. The bottom of the rainbow seems to be unattainable. People voted to leave, they did not vote for a perpetual purgatory."
Customs confusion: Options for post-Brexit trade explained
ONE of the key planks of the European Union is the customs union which all member countries - currently including the UK - must belong to.
It means there are no tariffs on goods going between EU states, and they all enforce the same standards for goods imported from outside Europe.
Some pro-EU politicians want Britain to stay in the customs union after Brexit - but that has been ruled out by Theresa May, because it would stop us striking any new trade deals with the rest of the world.
Last year, the PM set out two possible paths for the future customs relationship between Britain and Europe.
One option is the "customs partnership" - which would mirror many aspects of the existing customs union.
It would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU for any goods which enter Britain on their way to the continent.
The advantage of that would be no border checks would be needed between the UK and EU, particularly on the key Irish border, but Brexiteers worry it would tie us too closely to Europe.
The alternative is known as "maximum facilitation" - a high-tech arrangement where automated systems check goods as they flow across borders in a way which helps business trade freely.
But EU bosses have cast doubt on whether the right technology exists to make that solution work.
Which is why a so-called "third option" has been mooted, which would see the UK delay leaving the customs union when we exit the EU to give a longer lead-in time ahead of taking up the so-called "max-fac" system.
This has also proved unpopular among some, as this will stop us signing our own free trade deals for longer.
While the row may seem technical, many Brexit backers regard it as crucial for the UK to take total control of our trade and customs arrangements, or risk making our EU departure pointless.
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Former Cabinet minister Damian Green, who was Mrs May's effective deputy until his resignation last year, said he was ready to accept a "small delay" to Brexit to ensure that customs arrangements work effectively.
In a tweet, the Ashford MP said: "Surely the point about a new customs arrangement is that it needs to work smoothly from day one, or we will have chaos on the roads, especially in Kent. “If that means a small delay, so be it."
The Sun also revealed last night that the EU is stalling in the Brexit talks because of the unelected House of Lords' attempt to wreck Theresa May’s flagship exit legislation.