DUP rejects ‘vague’ Canada-style Brexit plan backed by Eurosceptics

Boost for embattled May as DUP rejects ‘vague’ Canada-style Brexit plan backed by Eurosceptics as rival to her Chequers blueprint

  • Theresa May is desperately battling to keep her Chequers plan for Brexit alive
  • The blueprint has come under fire from the EU, Tory Eurosceptics and Remainers
  • But the DUP says it does not support a rival Canada-style plan from Brexiteers

DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson

The DUP has delivered a much-needed boost for Theresa May by dismissing a ‘vague and contradictory’ rival plan for Brexit.

Sammy Wilson of the Northern Ireland party – which is propping the PM up in power – said a Canada-style blueprint backed by Tory Eurosceptics was ‘not something we could support’.

The stance is a glimmer of light for Mrs May as she struggles to keep her Chequers proposals alive in the face of fierce resistance from her own MPs and the EU.

But it also underlines the difficulty of getting any deal thrashed out with Brussels through Parliament.

Up to 80 Tory MPs have said they will not support Mrs May’s model if it comes to a Commons vote – but ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd has warned that at least 40 would oppose a Canada-style agreement.

Boris Johnson, David Davis and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among the Tory Brexiteers who endorsed the plan put forward by the free-market Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) last week.

The paper urged a ‘clean break’ from Brussels with a ‘basic’ free trade agreement for goods.

It warned that Britain would squander an ‘historic opportunity’ to broaden its horizons if Mrs May stuck to her proposals.

What did the IEA’s Brexit plan propose?

  • Ministers should seek a ‘basic’ free trade agreement for goods and pursue ‘regulatory freedom and trade independence’. 
  • In order to ensure there is no return of a ‘hard border’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic, there should be ‘cooperation mechanisms’ to enable trade ‘formalities’ between the two jurisdictions to be completed away from the border.
  • Food and animal health regime in Northern Ireland should be aligned with the EU, with suitable powers devolved to the Government of Northern Ireland to enable local politicians to fully cooperate and coordinate with the Irish authorities, in accordance with the Belfast Agreement.

But DUP Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson told the Belfast News Letter that the proposals were ‘inconsistent’.

‘I am not sure if this report is deliberately vague or just not very well thought out,’ he said.

‘It talks about the goods which are regulated differently in EU member states, and uses the phrase ‘of which there are many’. 

‘Are they saying that the UK government would commit to, or the NI Executive would be required to commit to, copying all of the EU regulations in relation to that myriad number of goods? That is not clear.’ 

Mr Wilson also raised doubts about laws for some goods being specific to Northern Ireland rather than the whole UK.

‘What does that do to the government’s guarantee that we would not be divorced from our main market in GB?’ he said.

The East Antrim MP – who has also condemned Mrs May’s Chequers plan -added: ‘It talks about checks being done away from the Irish border, and I have no difficulty with that.

‘But why would checks need to be done if there was a guarantee that all the regulations would be similar? There would be no need.’

Mr Wilson said the rival Brexit plan ‘is not something we (the DUP) would support’.

David Davis (left) and Jacob Rees-Mogg attended the launch of the IEA report last week

David Davis (left) and Jacob Rees-Mogg attended the launch of the IEA report last week

Theresa May (pictured at the UN in New York yesterday) has said a Canada-style deal is worse than no deal because it does not solve the Irish border issues

The political problems facing Mrs May have also been underlined after ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd (file picture) warned that at least 40 Tory MPs are ready to vote against a Canada-style agreement

The political problems facing Mrs May have also been underlined after ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd (file picture) warned that at least 40 Tory MPs are ready to vote against a Canada-style agreement

 

 

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