Ministers pessimistic about prospect of finding solution, with two rival plans in play

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Resolving the cabinet standoff over customs after Brexit could take another week or more, senior government sources say, as ministers prepare to meet in breakout groups to thrash out the rival proposals.

Theresa May has divided members of her deadlocked Brexit inner cabinet into two groups, tasked with tweaking the two rival plans to find an acceptable compromise.

But ministers remain pessimistic about the prospect of finding a workable solution, with one comparing the process of wearing down their opponents with the Marathon des Sables, an endurance race across the Sahara.

“It feels like everyone’s quite entrenched,” said another senior source.

The impasse has stalled negotiations in Brussels, and is becoming increasingly politically embarrassing for May, who was challenged by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, about the “shambles” of her negotiating strategy in parliament on Wednesday.



A spokesman for the prime minister said on Friday: “We think both options have merit, we’re discussing both of them further. The groups reflect the issues that have been raised in relation to the two models. The groups are working through these issues of priority and need to come up with the right solution.”

He added: “We are not setting any further deadlines for ourselves apart from October. That continues to be our focus.”

October is the deadline by which the government hopes to agree the outlines of a trade deal, to allow time for parliament to ratify it.

But the EU27 have stressed that they want to see progress on the Irish border issue in particular before the European Council meets next month.

The depth of the divisions in cabinet burst into the open last week, with the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, describing May’s favoured customs partnership as “crazy”.

Dominic Grieve on Boris Johnson and Brexit: ‘He should resign. Yes’ Read more

The Conservative rebel Dominic Grieve, who has repeatedly challenged the government over its Brexit plans, said Johnson should resign if he disagreed so profoundly with other members of the cabinet.

“The prime minister has a difficult task and I don’t think it’s helped by this tendency of the foreign secretary to express himself,” he told the Guardian. “If you don’t like a policy, you leave the government. That’s what you should do. If there are problems, you either accept them or you have to go. That’s your choice.”

Asked if that meant he thought Johnson should resign, he said: “He should resign. Yes.”

But allies of Johnson stress that both proposals remain in play, and point out that the business secretary, Greg Clark, has spoken out in favour of the partnership plan.

The cabinet breakout groups have already met once and will gather again on Monday.

Brexiters remain deeply sceptical about the customs partnership, which also has the backing of Philip Hammond, and would see Britain collect tariffs on behalf of the EU.

This “hybrid model”, as it is also known, will be discussed by the group including David Lidington, Liam Fox and Michael Gove. Brexiters fear it will force Britain to remain too close to the EU; copying the bloc’s product standards and regulations, for example.

One Brexiter suggested the prime minister may be hoping the persuasive Lidington can “flip” Gove or Fox.

The other group will discuss the so-called “max fac” proposal favoured by the Brexit secretary, David Davis. It relies on technology to minimise border checks, but its opponents believe it cannot resolve the Irish border issue.

Davis will have to try to convince Clark and the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, that it can be tweaked in such a way that it can work. But backers of the customs partnership believe max fac would never get through the Commons.

Negotiators in Brussels are ready to resume talks with the UK as soon as the government has a preferred solution and have laid out a series of questions about the customs partnership, having initially dismissed the idea.