howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of the Sunday Times
Theresa May has been told she could be ousted like Margaret Thatcher unless she sacks her chief Brexit negotiator, Oliver Robbins, and ditches his plan to bind Britain into a customs partnership with the EU. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has told May that she should ignore Robbins and start listening to her ministers instead — a move that the mandarin has interpreted as an attempt to get him fired. Davis also staged a showdown with May’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, last weekend, after The Sunday Times revealed that her aides had “war-gamed” whether he would resign if the UK stayed in a customs union with Brussels.
In what amounts to the most perilous moment for May’s premiership this year, a close friend of Davis compared Robbins to Sir Alan Walters, the unelected adviser who alienated Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, setting in train the events that led to her downfall. The threat to May comes as leaked cabinet papers revealed that the embattled home secretary, Amber Rudd, was backing a plan to water down control of Britain’s borders after Brexit. The home secretary wants a “labour mobility partnership” in which EU migrants would get preferential access to benefits, healthcare and the UK jobs market — if it helps Britain in trade negotiations with Brussels.
May faces a showdown with her Brexit cabinet on Wednesday, when she is set to recommend Robbins’s plan for a customs partnership, in which Britain would collect EU tariffs on behalf of Brussels. Michael Gove, the environment secretary, told a dinner for the No Turning Back group of Conservative MPs last Monday that the plan was “completely bonkers”. Davis thinks it is “unworkable”. A close ally of the Brexit secretary issued a coded threat, warning May: “She should have a look at the history books and the case of Alan Walters. When prime ministers start following the advice of unelected advisers rather than her ministers, trouble follows. That way lies risk for her personally.”
Brexiteer business leaders today demand that Robbins is fired and “replaced by someone from outside the civil service who will take a tough line with Brussels”. In an article for the Sunday Times, Richard Tice and John Longworth, of the Leave Means Leave group, write: “At each stage, Robbins has presided over a bungled negotiating position on behalf of the UK, giving leverage to the EU and acquiescing to their every whim in a way no business person would do.”Davis say he has warned Downing Street it is no longer tenable for Robbins to devise Brexit policy behind the backs of ministers after he produced another plan — previously unseen by ministers — last Wednesday to sign an “association agreement” with Brussels, a move Brexiteers say will violate May’s pledge to leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. “Oliver Robbins has to understand he is accountable to the secretary of state as well as the prime minister,” a source close to Davis said.
Senior backbenchers threatened to submit letters demanding a vote of no confidence. “The prime minister would be extraordinarily unwise to take Robbins’ advice on this,” said one former minister close to Davis. “There will be a very swift and very violent reaction. It will put the prime minister in personal peril.”
One predicted that the MP Jacob Rees-Mogg could bring her down: “Jacob may not play the role of the king maker but he could certainly be the executioner.” Downing Street officials have placed Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary who also opposes the plan, “on a watch list” having concluded he is likely to resign this year. Davis’s aides yesterday denied a report that he has threatened to quit. “He is staying to fight,” one said. Layla Moran, the MP and a spokeswoman for the Best for Britain pro-EU group said: “Ministers are fighting like rats in a sack. The government has no plan and no clue.”
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
free movement of EU cheap labour is the backbone of the Tory party, the bosses get richer and wages have been held down...the problem is the labour party love it too??? leaving the British working class with no representation .
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
so you keep saying keith.
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 2,907
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is a solution to the ILB, because a land boundary is essentially what the Dover Straits routes are; a little damp it's true, but hardly any different fiscally.
(Not my real name.)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,500
Button wrote:I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is a solution to the ILB, because a land boundary is essentially what the Dover Straits routes are; a little damp it's true, but hardly any different fiscally.
Yes. In terms of 'goods'. But there's no reason there should be a border for 'bodies' the Common Travel Area, which works fine(ish!), coming up for it's centenary in 2023
'If no one went no faster than what I do there'd be a sight less trouble in this world'
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of the Times.
Liam Fox said today that neither post-Brexit customs options to be presented to cabinet ministers tomorrow solve key red lines, amid hints that he would resign if his ability to strike trade deals were curtailed. Theresa May is approaching crunch point on how Britain wants to approach customs arrangements after Brexit, with mounting pressure from Brussels and Ireland, divisions among cabinet ministers and a rebellion among Tory MPs in parliament. The trade secretary said that whatever the option chosen by cabinet ministers, it must ensure near-frictionless trade, provide a “solution” to the Northern Ireland border issue and allow Britain to sign trade agreements with non EU countries.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “Neither of them solve all three problems to the same extent and that’s what we will have to work through at the cabinet sub-committee, looking at the details of them.” Mrs May has put forward two options to deal with customs issues at the border: a “customs partnership” where the UK would continue to collect EU tariffs at the border, and a trusted trade, technological-based solution to minimise checks. The EU has rejected both options, while Brexiteers led by David Davis are vehemently hostile to the partnership idea, which is in favour with Mrs May. The Brexit “war cabinet” subcommittee, with Sajid Javid, the new home secretary, attending for the first time, will meet to discuss the options tomorrow afternoon. The prime minister may use the partnership idea to try and buy off a Commons rebellion by Remain-supporting Tory MPs, which is expected next month. Asked whether he was was happy with either option, Dr Fox did not answer. “There are a number of technical issues. Can we make these two elements we have in front of us work, that’s what we going to try and do.” Asked if he would consider quitting if the government made major compromises in its exit strategy, he replied: “We don’t answer questions with such suppositions.” He added: “Getting no answer you can draw your own inferences.”
Dr Fox said there was no form of customs partnership with the European Union that “could ever be acceptable” as he warned peers against thwarting the will of the people.
Last night the House of Lords voted to give parliament a decisive say on the outcome of the negotiations. Dr Fox suggested that peers were using a “backdoor mechanism” to delay exit from the EU “indefinitely”. He told Today: “We can’t have a situation where the clearly expressed will of the people in a referendum is thwarted by effectively procedural devices that would keep us in the EU indefinitely.” He added: “I think there is quite a big debate now about whether the unelected House can actually thwart the view of the British electorate in a referendum and what’s been happening in terms of the legislation coming from the House of Commons.” Dr Fox denied that a string of parliamentary defeats being inflicted on the government would eventually force it into accepting that the UK would have to be part of some form of customs union with the EU. He said: “If we were in a customs union with the European Union we would have to accept what the EU negotiated in terms of market access to the UK without the UK having a voice. “That’s worse than the position in which we found ourselves today in the European Union.” “I don’t think there is a customs union that could ever be acceptable,” he added. “If we are in a customs union of any sort we will have less ability to shape Britain’s future than we have today. That is not what the public voted for.” A second defeat in a string of votes on Monday saw peers insist that Parliament should be given a say on the Government’s mandate for trade talks with Brussels.
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
His facts are not facts at all. I doubt that anyone would want it but I will happily provide several reasons why the "will of the people" is the most bogus representation of our current plight. Meanwhile - the way other people see us (part 3) - don't bother reading it John. I know you'll disregard the truth.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/with-no-sense-of-direction-theresa-may-is-the-plaything-of-events-1.3479502#.WugUK-JWf4k.facebookJohn Buckley- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
You know me so well Stuart!
In fact I’ve disregarded most of the guff put forward by remainer types or their cohorts ever since Cameron’s glossy pro EU booklet landed on my doormat! After reading that load of official rubbish, no doubt produced by “experts”, why should I believe anything else put forward by the “other side”?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
That piece in the Irish Times sums up our PM rather nicely, particularly with this bit.
"May’s admirers still talk about her debut speech as prime minister as though Cicero is up there kicking himself for having been beaten to it. Even at the time, though, it was colour-by-numbers flannel about “burning injustice”, influenced by advisers who are no longer with her. She was never a seer. She was a conscientious, civic-minded politician who needs instructions to be getting on with."
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ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
Blimey, Mr Buckley. Have I been rumbled? That's it now - I'll be banned from posting and people will be burning books in the street. Ironically, I totally agree with you about that pro EU booklet. It was as misinformed as the rest of the campaign. Guess I best crawl back under my shell and await the Draconian inevitable.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The PM has to make a decision soon otherwise a leadership challenge will be mounted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43969101Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 2,907
Sloppy journalism: 'The alternative to a customs partnership is what is being called a "highly streamlined customs arrangement", which would minimise border checks rather than getting rid of them altogether.' Looks like Auntie hasn't read the (umbrella) HSCA.
(Not my real name.)
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,232
Big day ahead - Cabinet with either spectacularly fall out over the choice between two unworkable ideas, or, fudge the issue with a third, even more unworkable idea. Happy days.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The ERG won't accept any customs arrangement on offer believing also they have given too much ground already on issues just to keep the PM in power. The £38 billion bill to leave, fisheries rights and freedom of movement during the transition period. If the PM goes forward with her plans then many Tory MPs will withdraw their support on all other issues in the Commons effectively turning her into a lame duck.
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
She'll fudge it. The can will be kicked a little further down the alley. Climbing the greasy pole was always going to be difficult with this one. Follow the Brexiteers and be associated with the most colossal piece of self mutilation, a la Johnson, Gove, Rees-Mogg who have absolutely nothing to lose by it and see it as the start of their personal chance of a right wing coup. Or take the pragmatic approach and try to limit the damage a la Hammond, Rudd. Good luck.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,232
So, as Ray anticipated, the can was kicked down the road once again. After all this time, we still have no idea, whatsoever, how to solve the Ireland issue.
What makes me smile is the stunning simplicity of it all; we leave the EU and then bellyache that it is all too difficult because our land border with the EU has to change.
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Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,232
....and meanwhile JRM continues to believe that the technology fairy will swoop down and sprinkle some frictionless trade stardust all over the show.
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