UK Government meeting at Chequers agrees to [ask for] a “Free Trade Area for goods” including a “Facilitated Customs Arrangement” which would remove need for all border checks between UK and EU “as if a combined customs territory” 
Chequers pix:
PM statement: “proposal establishes a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products”
Bit on ECJ jurisdiction sounds very much like an opening for Efta Court/ EEA...:
Common rule book for agrifood with EU - surely makes it impossible to adapt US agri standards - perhaps might try to do a narrow FTA outside of these parameters
FCA sounds the same as the Customs Partnership that Boris Johnson called “crazy”. Big problem is it requires changes in every other EU country basically in order to give UK freedom to change tariffs - at a time when UK already sued at ECJ over applying existing rules...
With this proposal UK Government believe the Ireland backstop will not need to be brought into effect - as this honours “letter and spirit” of Belfast Agreement
This offer, says Government, should solve concerns of Airbus, BMW, JLR etc - the integrated supply chains/ Just in Time delivery - ie “frictionless access” rather than “as frictionless as possible”
Essentially Take Back Control, but with that control, choose to maintain v similar arrangements for goods and agriculture but not service trade and immigration. Makes big point about freedom to join Trans Pacific Partnership...
..anyway of course plenty of holes to pick at in this new approach, it consolidates pinkening of red lines but Brussels would be wise not to laugh this out of town - some building blocks for a conversation here...
Key - UK Government wants frictionless trade for big manufacturers
Key - UK Government wants frictionless trade for big manufacturers
Indeed Barnier sends initial warmish response:
But why you would choose to lay out such tough red lines if you thought things might end up here - a bit of a mystery. How Brexiter Cabinet ministers have signed up to this a mystery.
“Can’t see how that can accept this and not look a laughing stock” - one former senior minister.
“Can’t see how that can accept this and not look a laughing stock” - one former senior minister.
Perhaps it was this bit - that preparations have been stepped up for “No Deal”. Given the Commission have published 70 preparedness notices for ordinary businesses, and UK Gov none, that would not be very hard.
For me big change is Cabinet decided it wants to maintain *frictionless* [not just ‘as possible’] EU trade - ie unwilling to introduce any frictions that imperil car industry/ Airbus jobs etc -so accept logic of total alignment and thus constraints on scope of new FTAs eg with US
Quick off the mark:
Backbencher not happy
Jenkyns told @skynews earlier today that if the plan did not change over the course of today [it hasnt] she’d vote against it and “put letters in”
“As bad as I feared” says another senior Brexiter backbencher.
Remainer former minister: “ironically now would be the time to trigger Article 50” says we’ll have to pause Article 50 process
minister, v pro-Brexit: “If this was final deal, then I could probably live with it as a necessary compromise. But EU will never accept it (cherry picking, 4 freedoms indivisible etc), so what happens next?”
Despondent Brexiter MP: “deeply disappointed, this is associate membership of the EU, we haven’t worked so hard all these years for this”.
Also said if the Cabinet all have signed up to this then there’s no one for Brexiters to rally behind if they put their letters in - pretty dark on ERG WhatsApp
CAbinet ministers have started tweeting their support after finally getting reception:
And the big winner alongside Chancellor:
