Fresh cabinet tensions over Brexit have come to the fore after it emerged that the environment secretary, Michael Gove, had launched a stinging attack on the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in a letter to fellow ministers.



Gove, a senior Brexiter who has been seeking to rebuild his political career after failing to secure the Tory leadership in 2016, blamed Hammond for the government’s Lords defeat over its flagship Brexit legislation, the Guardian understands. He accused the Treasury of “short-sightedness” that led to the “avoidable” defeat over the European Union withdrawal bill.

Gove said that choosing to follow the path favoured by Hammond on environmental regulations, rather than the one he proposed, had left the government at the mercy of the “reality of parliamentary arithmetic”. The government suffered 15 defeats in the Lords over the bill.

The environment secretary favoured giving a post-Brexit watchdog the power to fine central and local government if they failed to meet targets on recycling and pollution. He believed that maintaining a similar level of environmental protection to that currently in place would be necessary to placate the Lords. But the chancellor argued against encumbering authorities with more regulation than he felt necessary.

In his letter to fellow cabinet members, written on Thursday and first obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Gove said: “Defra argued that if we were to deliver the government’s promises, our proposals must at the very least replicate the status quo – specifically, the enforcement powers of the European Commission and maintenance of the principles in legislation.

“More than that, we argued that the reality of the parliamentary arithmetic meant we would be defeated if we chose to publish a weak consultation. Defra’s arguments were not accepted as a result of Treasury opposition.”

In the event, the House of Lords voted against the government on the environmental protections amendment.



The government will face a battle to reverse the defeats it suffered in the Lords when the legislation returns to the Commons within the next few weeks, and Gove warned that ministers “cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of recent weeks and have the government’s environmental credibility further undermined”.

The row over Gove’s attempts to secure a “green Brexit”, and with it his own legacy, once again exposes May’s struggle to maintain order over her divided cabinet, with several pro-Brexit ministers increasingly appearing to be charting their own course through Brexit.

Gove’s transformation from a shy green to a passionate environmentalist – cutting back on plastic, banning the ivory trade and promoting bigger penalties for animal cruelty – surprised many but has been interpreted by some as proof that he still has one eye on the biggest prize: the Tory leadership.

Hammond, the most high-profile remainer in the cabinet after the departure of Amber Rudd, is an unsurprising target for hostility from his Brexit colleagues.

The environment secretary’s proposals carried particular weight because they were the first example of how the government would treat protections that have been established by Brussels for more than 40 years, once the UK has taken back control of them.

A Treasury source told the Telegraph: “It is clearly wrong to blame the Treasury for this. Philip has worked closely with Michael to support the government’s environmental agenda, including on plans for a plastic waste tax.”