Boris Johnson strongly criticised Theresa May’s plan for the UK’s future relationship with the EU before agreeing to back it at Friday’s cabinet meeting at Chequers, the BBC understands. The foreign secretary told colleagues the plan could be a ‘serious inhibitor to free trade’ and argued it would leave the UK as a ‘vassal state’.
Despite his opposition, Mr Johnson eventually supported the proposals. An ally of the prime minister suggested his comments were made in a humorous style, and after dinner Mr Johnson paid a rousing tribute to Mrs May. The foreign secretary’s friends say he remains in cabinet to ‘make the argument for Brexiteers’.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove defended the deal as a compromise that would lead to a ‘proper Brexit’. He told the BBC the UK would have the ‘sovereign ability’ to diverge from EU rules where it wanted, but added that if the EU did not show flexibility, the UK may have to ‘contemplate walking away without a deal’.
Labour criticised the plan as a ‘fudge’ that would ‘unravel’. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer described proposals to differentiate between UK and EU-bound goods as a ‘ bureaucratic nightmare’, and urged the government to put its customs proposals to a vote in Parliament.
Tory Brexiteers expressed unease, warning the UK would have to follow EU laws and European Court of Justice rulings. Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen called the pledges a ‘pretence and charade’, and former leader Iain Duncan Smith warned the government would ‘suffer the consequences at the next election’ if the plan was seen as continued membership of the customs union and single market for goods.
Prime Minister Theresa May told the Sunday Times her plan was a ‘serious, workable proposal’, adding: ‘The only challenge that needs to be made now is to the European Union to get serious about this, to come round the table and discuss it with us.’ She stressed that when people voted to leave the EU, ‘they wanted to take control of our money, our laws and our borders and that's exactly what we will do.’
