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Depressing stuff from the Sunday Times.
Theresa May has been plunged into a deeper crisis after Brussels rejected her key Brexit proposal, which was intended to avoid the UK being trapped in an indefinite customs union. The prime minister had hoped to unite her cabinet and overcome the final hurdle in negotiations with the EU by offering to create an “independent mechanism” to oversee how the UK might leave a temporary customs arrangement if Brexit talks collapsed. But this weekend senior EU officials sent shockwaves through No 10 by rejecting May’s plan, sparking fears that negotiations have broken down days before “no-deal” preparations costing billions need to be implemented.
The mechanism was seen by key members of the cabinet, including the attorney-general, Geoffrey Cox, as crucial to preventing the so-called Northern Irish “backstop” being used to force the UK into being a “never-ending rule-taker from Brussels”. A Whitehall source described the plan as the government’s “life-support machine”, adding: “By rejecting the proposal, the EU has just turned off the oxygen.” A senior cabinet minister said: “This is the moment she has to face down Brussels and make it clear to them that they need to compromise, or we will leave without a deal.”
It also emerged that:
• Four remain-leaning ministers are on the brink of resignation after the departure on Friday of Jo Johnson, the transport minister, who accused May of “a failure of British statecraft on a scale unseen since the Suez crisis”
• Labour pledged to mobilise MPs from all parties to stop May taking the UK out of Europe without a deal
• Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs, was accused of suppressing the fact that he had received enough letters to trigger a vote of no confidence in May.
The prime minister’s proposal for an independent mechanism to solve the customs conundrum, delivered last week to EU leaders, was seen by cabinet Brexiteers and remainers as the best way to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic. However, it is understood that Brussels has told No 10 that it would be impossible for the arbitration to be enforced by anything other than the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The rejection raises serious questions for the cabinet meeting expected on Tuesday, when the proposal was intended to unite warring ministers. The latest delay casts doubt over whether May will be able to secure a November summit to sign off a deal. She has been scrambling to agree the outline of a deal by the end of this month. Cabinet sources admitted that failure to do so would leave the UK struggling to push through the complex legislation needed to ensure its smooth departure from the EU in March.
Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, told the cabinet that November was the final realistic moment to switch to full-blown no-deal planning if the government was to be ready. Ministers fear that businesses and financial markets will start betting on a no-deal outcome, threatening to crash the pound. Last night senior Brexiteers lined up to urge May to face down the EU. David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, told The Sunday Times: “Taking back control of our laws and borders means that a sovereign UK parliament must be able to determine our future as a self-governing, trading nation. Our destiny must not be in the EU’s hands. “Brussels’s demand that the arbitration panel should be bound by ECJ decisions could result in a permanent backstop arrangement — everlasting customs union membership. This makes a mockery of the referendum result. Cabinet ministers need to recognise this and London needs to face down Brussels.”