Theresa May’s Brexit “war cabinet” of senior ministers is to thrash out the thorniest issues for Britain’s future relationship with the EU at a crunch meeting.



The prime minister and key cabinet ministers on different sides of the Brexit debate, including the chancellor, Philip Hammond, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, will begin drawing up the government’s position on the “end state” for the UK’s relationship with the EU after the transition period.

The Brexit subcommittee will meet after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday afternoon and is expected to tackle the Northern Ireland border issue and immigration. On Thursday morning, ministers will meet again to discuss the future trade relationship with the EU.

Senior government sources have played down the likelihood that any agreement will be reached this week. Others on the Brexit subcommittee include the remain-backing Cabinet Office secretary, David Lidington, the business secretary, Greg Clark, and the arch-Brexiter Liam Fox, the international trade secretary.

Two others, the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, and the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, campaigned for remain but have since been more publicly optimistic about Brexit than some of their more pro-Europe cabinet colleagues.

Before the meeting, Clark said there was still some way to go before the end state would become clear. “We can’t know an end state until it has been agreed by both sides,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We’ve got a series of meetings to make sure the end state that we want to negotiate, which requires agreement from the counter parties, meets our objectives – that we can continue to thrive, that we can continue to trade without tariffs, with the minimum of frictions. That’s what business wants and needs. That is what the purpose of this discussion is.”

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has spoken privately of his concern that the negotiations will be “hijacked” by a row over the Irish border. In discussions with MEPs in Strasbourg, Barnier said he was determined to resolve the issue as soon as possible rather than let the need to avoid a hard border be used as leverage by the British in talks about a future trade deal.

Downing Street has repeatedly stated that the UK is leaving the customs union, after it was widely reported that Brexit advisers were considering a proposal that would lead to an extended customs agreement to cover goods beyond the transition period.



Brexit: Ken Clarke claims 'vast majority' of MPs back staying in customs union - Politics live Read more

The former chancellor Ken Clarke, a strong remain backer, said there was a clear majority in the House of Commons for staying in some form of customs union.

“We have the advantage now of frictionless trade. When we do change it, we should keep most of the features of the customs union,” he told Today. “To say you are going to leave the single market and the customs union and have frictionless trade is a contradiction.”

The Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, a prominent Brexiter, said the EU would not impose tariffs after Brexit, telling the programme it would be “utterly perverse … I don’t think they would be so destructive to do that”.



After the British meetings this week, UK and EU officials will hodl four days of intensive talks from next Tuesday, led by Sabine Weyand, the EU’s deputy chief negotiator, and Downing Street’s senior Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins.

Barnier told MEPs that after his meeting in Downing Street this week he was worried about how the negotiators would bridge the differences that have emerged between the UK and the EU over the terms of the transition period.

The UK wishes to treat EU nationals who arrive during that 21-month period differently to those who are already in the country. Barnier said he had told May and David Davis, the Brexit secretary, that the proposal would face strong resistance.

There is high tension among Conservatives, with the pro-remain MP Anna Soubry threatening to quit the party should hard Brexiters seek to replace May with Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg as leader.

Justine Greening, who stepped down as education secretary in last month’s cabinet reshuffle, said it “might be a bit of a stretch” for her to remain in the party if Rees-Mogg became leader.

Johnson is to make a speech this month on the case for a “liberal Brexit”, billed as an appeal to leavers and remainers on how to make Brexit work.

The British Chambers of Commerce said on Wednesday that patience was “wearing thin” with the government’s indecision.