It's been a long few days for Theresa May's tariffs policy. A little thread on how things have changed since Chequers...
The Chequers statement on Friday night made clear that - under the FCA - the UK would apply the UK's tariffs on imports destined for the UK and the EU's tariffs on imports destined for the EU. It was silent on what would happen to UK-bound imports coming in through the EU...
On Monday, Theresa May said the following, which is a bit vague, but could be read as signalling that the FCA would rely on reciprocity - i.e. the EU would apply UK tariffs on UK-bound goods... 
Emily T asked David Lidington about this at stand-in PMQs on Wednesday, and Lidington said that wasn't the plan. This was confirmed by the White Paper on Thursday, which said...
But now, four days later, as a result of accepting the ERG's amendment for a New Clause 36, the government is doing exactly what it said it wouldn't and insisting that there must be reciprocity on the collection of each other's tariffs IF those tariffs diverge...
Which takes us back to the point Emily made on Wednesday: the EU will never agree to such a system and the technology to police it doesn't exist, in which case there will never be any divergence on tariffs (or by extension, regulations) if the government persists with the FCA...
In which case, we should just forget all this Chequers cobblers and negotiate a Customs Union and a trade agreement covering both goods and services. Because the choice now is between that and no deal at all. Cos Chequers is dead, baby, Chequers is dead.
