Theresa May defended her ‘realistic’ vision of Brexit today – saying she was ‘being straight with people’.
The Prime Minister used a crucial speech on Friday to set out a blueprint for the UK to align with EU rules to secure free flowing trade.
She said Britain must retain the scope to diverge from Brussels regulations in future – but admitted there would be costs if it does.
The intervention seems to have succeeded in securing a fragile truce between Tory Remainer and Brexiteer factions – although the response from the EU has been less enthusiastic.
Theresa May (pictured giving her interview to the Andrew Marr, broadcast today) said voters were tired of politicians re-running the arguments from the 2016 referendum
Ireland’s deputy PM Simon Coveney told Marr he was ‘not sure that the European Union will be able to support’ the UK plan, as it would want to protect the integrity of the single market
The PM’s speech (pictured) seems to have succeeded in securing a fragile truce between Tory Remain and Brexit factions – although the response from the EU has been less enthusiastic
Defending her blueprint in the Mansion House speech as ‘ambitious’ and ‘credible’ today, Mrs May said voters were tired of politicians re-running the arguments from the 2016 referendum.
The premier admitted unravelling Britain’s relationship with the EU was ‘complex’ but insisted she had set out a ‘very practical’ way to move ahead in negotiations.
She told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I was being straight with people.
‘I think it’s important to be straight with people, but it’s also one of the messages behind the speech which I think is to say to people – I think most people, most of the time, the public feel that the time for arguing, either side of the referendum is gone.’
Mrs May rejected ‘unacceptable’ EU proposals to force Northern Ireland to stay under Brussels rules to prevent a hard border with the Republic.
Instead she spelled out how she believed the soft border could be maintained using or through a broader trade agreement.
But Ireland’s deputy PM Simon Coveney told Marr Mrs May had given no new information about how the border could work.
He also said he was ‘not sure that the European Union will be able to support’ the post-Brexit plan, as it would be worried about protecting the integrity of the single market.
‘While of course we will explore and look at all of the proposed British solutions, they are essentially a starting point in negotiations as opposed to an end point,’ he said.
Mrs May said ‘quite a few’ trade deals have included financial services commitments in them, adding that the ‘very important role’ of the City of London for the UK and EU needs to be recognised.
She said: ‘If we were to accept passporting, we’d just be a rule-taker – we’d have to abide by the rules that were being set elsewhere, and given the importance of financial stability of ensuring the City of London, we can’t just take the same rules without any say in them.’
Asked for her message to the financial services companies, Mrs May said: ‘What we’re looking to develop is a relationship that means they can stay here in the UK as part of the City of London, that they will be continuing to provide their services across the European Union but they will know – given the sums of money involved, given the importance of financial stability, given the risk that actually the UK bears as a result of having the City here – that it’s important that we do that on the basis of recognised regulatory standards, but we can’t just accept rules made elsewhere without us having a say in them.’
Despite the apparent success in papering over Tory divisions, Downing Street and Boris Johnson were today forced to deny claims Mrs May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell was behind a leak of the Foreign Secretary’s private thoughts on the contentious issue of the Irish border.
In the lead-up to the speech a private memo from Mr Johnson to the PM was leaked, showing the Foreign Secretary believed the Government should merely focus on stopping the Irish border becoming ‘significantly’ harder.
Mr Johnson said ‘even if a hard border is reintroduced’ on the island of Ireland, the vast majority of goods would not be checked.
Friends of Mr Johnson have claimed that Mr Barwell leaked the memo to kill off the prospect of a rebellion over Mrs May’s Brexit plan.
But a spokesman for Mr Johnson said: ‘This is a yawnerama – a nonsense claim from an anonymous quote about a half baked and misleading leak that has been totally superseded by the Prime Minister’s excellent speech on Friday.
Former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson (left) said Mrs May was attempting to ‘dance on the head of a pin’. But Tory Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith (centre) said the PM had stuck to her commitments about leaving the single market and customs union
The premier admitted unravelling Britain’s relationship with the EU was ‘complex’ but insisted she had set out a ‘very practical’ way to move ahead in negotiations
Mr Johnson was unable to attend the speech after being stranded in Hungary by bad weather
‘We all now have a song to sing on Brexit – and we are going to be in unison.
‘We are coming out of the customs union and single market and as Theresa May has spelt out we can stay economically and politically close to our friends and partners in Europe while forging an exciting new future for Britain – controlling our own laws and doing our own free trade deals.
‘And the PM was absolutely right to be optimistic about the solutions to the issues raised by borders in Ireland and elsewhere. ‘It’s time to be positive folks.’
A Number 10 source said: ‘As Boris himself has made clear, these claims are ridiculous and totally untrue.’
Meanwhile, former PM Sir John Major has warned Mrs May any hardening of the Irish border could lead to the ‘age-old’ violence of the Troubles flaring up and said the issue ‘cannot be taken for granted’.
He accused her of ‘unconvincing’ and ‘easy soundbites’ about finding a way to avoid a hard Irish border through technology, without offering any practical solutions.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said: ‘What happens if local incidents cause the border to be attacked – as there is ample past reason to believe it might be? Is security brought in?
‘Does that reactivate old disputes that begin a downward spiral? As the age-old conflicts of Ireland tell us, this is a clear and present fear.’
Downing Street has dismissed claims that the PM’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell (pictured) was behind a leak of a private letter on the Irish border written by Mr Johnson