“Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules, decided elsewhere by others,” the Labour leader claims.
The briefing about turning a Trade Bill vote into one of confidence unnecessarily raises the temperature between Ministers and Conservative MPs.
If there’s to be no border in Ireland, and Britain is to leave the Customs Union and Single Market, it follows that there must be a customs border on the Irish Sea.
When ministers meet at Chequers this week, they must find a solution to the seemingly intractable question of whether to align or diverge from the EU.
But a vote on some form of customs union is coming. Might it become a confidence issue?
Many voters – Leave and Remain – appreciate his spirit of boldness, and want to move on from past divisions, not reopen them. There are opportunities to be grasped.
P.S: Only one Tory Prime Minister in recent years was “taken down” by Tory MPs. Clue: it was neither Major nor Cameron.
We are likely to get a deal with something for everyone – a ‘softish’ Brexit with May-style immigration controls. But the longer-term offers great opportunities.
The clock is ticking on the Brexit negotiations and spreading confusion in this manner will only undermine the Prime Minister’s negotiating hand.
It would make no sense to spurn taking control of our trade policy and leave it with the EU – in which we will no longer have a say.
If we do, we could reverse at least some of the six per cent hit to GDP it has caused so far. If we don’t, we could continue to lose productivity growth of 0.2 per cent a year.
It would allow the Prime Minister to gain support from the moderates of her party and, crucially, gain the initiative in the more centrist national debate.
It’s often suggested that the Remain wing of the Cabinet wouldn’t wear such a choice. I doubt it.
To shut off consideration of realistic and achievable ways of supporting the Government’s Brexit objectives would be irresponsible.