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Tory Chairman James Cleverly has admitted Britain plans to “change” workers’ rights after Brexit , following the publication of a leaked document.

Boris Johnson has pledged to maintain a “level playing field” with Brussels after leaving the EU but a government memo has left that commitment in doubt.

But Mr Cleverly insisted that didn’t mean standards would be lowered, despite documents stating “interpretation of these [level playing field] commitments will be very different” and that the text represented a “much more open starting point for future relationship negotiations”.

Mr Cleverly told the BBC: “Change and lessen are not interchangeable words.”

(Image: BBC/AFP via Getty Images)

The admission comes after an internal government memo leaked to the Financial Times revealed how the word "adequate" was removed from the UK-EU Political Declaration to describe the means of enforcing common social, environmental, and labour standards after Brexit.

The word "adequate" appears to have been replaced by the word "appropriate".

The memo marked "Official Sensitive", contains a series of claimed negotiation wins from the Brexit deal renegotiation, weakening the scope and strength of Level Playing Field Commitments (LPF), a crucial element in a future UK-EU trade arrangement.

(Image: BPM)

Boris Johnson told the Commons that the UK was committed to “the highest possible standards” on both sets of standards.

The government have tried to convince Labour MPs in leave-voting areas to back the deal by insisting that they would maintain workers' rights and other protections.

Some 19 voted with the government on the second reading of the Withdrawal Amendment Bill.

But the document suggests that the commitment in the (WAB) “leaves room for interpretation”.

It also said that the UK and EU’s “interpretation of these [level playing field] commitments will be very different”.

(Image: PA)

The document added that the government viewed binding commitments as “inappropriate”, and that negotiators “successfully resisted” the inclusion of such a commitment in the WAB.

Labour have described it as a "blueprint" for ending "vital rights and protections".

Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman said the documents "confirm our worst fears".

She said: "Boris Johnson's Brexit is a blueprint for a deregulated economy, which will see vital rights and protections torn up."

But the Brexit department has said it does not recognise the document.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned that the UK is on course for no deal because of the government's determination to slash workers' protections and other rights.

(Image: PA)

He said: “Europe is now on notice from Britain and its ministers that Britain wants Brexit to compete around tax and regulation, to become an off-shore competitor with the European Union.

“What is absolutely clear is that Europe is not going to have that. And they’re going to say to the UK side – this is why this negotiation is going to be very ugly and very difficult – they’re going to say, ‘No we’re not giving you tariff-free access to our markets if you’re going to start using a whole lot of competitive tax and regulatory measures in order to undercut us’."

The UK could still crash out at the end of the transition period if there is no agreement on the future relationship by then.