The government has published its long-awaited Brexit white paper, the longest and most detailed explanation yet of its proposals for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The 104-page document lays out many of the same plans detailed after the cabinet’s meeting at Chequers last week, but goes into much more detail. Here are the key elements:

Main principles

The white paper says the government seeks “a principled and practical Brexit”. It says its proposals follow on from Theresa May’s set-piece speeches at Lancaster House, in Florence, at Mansion House and in Munich, “and in doing so [address] questions raised by the EU in the intervening months”.

It says the hope is that its publication will lead to “a redoubling of efforts in the negotiations”. The main purpose, its argues, is “respecting the result of the referendum and the decision of the UK public to take back control of the UK’s laws, borders and money.”

The new relationship with the EU should be “broader in scope than any other that exists between the EU and a third country”, it says.

The aim would be “a practical Brexit” with both sides “confident they can trust and rely on the commitments made to each other”. This would involve regular dialogue, joint institutions and “robust and appropriate” means to resolve disputes, involving binding arbitration that would refer to the European court of justice.

Five key objectives

The white paper lays out five main areas of focus:

The economy: “developing a broad and deep economic relationship with the EU that maximises future prosperity … and minimises disruption to trade between the UK and the EU, protecting jobs and livelihoods – at the same time making the most of trading opportunities around the world.” Communities: ending free movement with a new immigration system, support for farming and fisheries, and what is called a “shared prosperity fund”.

The union: protecting the Northern Ireland peace process, avoiding a hard Irish border, safeguarding the constitutional integrity of the UK and devolving appropriate powers. Democracy: leaving EU institutions and reclaiming UK sovereignty, ensuring laws are made in UK.

The UK’s place in the world: promoting general principles such as openness and liberty.

Economic partnership

The white paper says the aim is for a free trade area for goods, giving frictionless border access. This would “protect the uniquely integrated supply chains and ‘just in time’ processes” with no “costly customs declarations”.

The plan would “enable products to only undergo one set of approvals and authorisations in either market, before being sold in both”. There would be separate arrangements for services, giving the UK freedom “to chart its own path in the areas that matter most for its economy”.

This section acknowledges that the UK “cannot have all the benefits of membership of the single market without its obligations”, and says it is thus necessary to create a bespoke new arrangement.

On services, there would be new arrangements on digital commerce, allowing the UK and EU “to respond nimbly to the new opportunities and challenges presented by emerging technologies”.



Details of the new service arrangements remain vague, but they would be based on “the principles of international trade and the precedents of existing EU trade agreements”, the document says, as well as elements such as the continued mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

This section also calls for a new and comprehensive deal on financial services, beginning with a position of “identical rules and entwined supervisory frameworks”.

Facilitated customs arrangement (FCA)

A key part of the new economic arrangements would be this, May’s new compromise proposal for post-Brexit customs arrangements, which would seek to minimise border friction while keeping the UK outside the EU’s single market.

The UK and EU would become a “combined customs territory” for goods, in which the UK would apply the EU’s tariffs and trade policies for goods intended for the bloc, with domestic tariffs imposed for goods heading to the UK.

According to the white paper, the FCA would “preserve frictionless trade for the majority of UK goods trade and reduce frictions for UK exporters and importers”.

In practice, the white paper says, when a product reaches the UK border and its destination “can be robustly demonstrated by a trusted trader”, the relevant UK or EU tariff will be applied. If the destination cannot be proved, the higher of the two tariffs will be applied, with repayment made as needed if the product ultimately ends up in the lower-tariff destination.

This scheme would involve discussions with the EU on areas such as a trusted trader schemes and arrangements for repaying excess tariffs.

The government would “explore options to use future advancements in technology to streamline the process”, including machine learning and artificial intelligence.



Convergence on standards

The white paper proposes a common rulebook to “underpin the free trade area for goods”. This would involve British BSI standards not diverting from their EU equivalents, and common tests for goods. One example given in the document would be continued mutual recognition of the same approvals for various motor vehicle categories.

The proposal would involve a common rulebook on food and agriculture, and UK participation in EU agencies for chemicals, aviation and medicines, “accepting the rules of these agencies and contributing to their costs”.

On food, this would include equivalence of elements such as labelling, mirroring agreements the EU already has with other nations, for example on common standards for products marketed as being organic.

Movement of people

Free movement of people from the EU to the UK will end, the white paper says. While details of future migration policy will be decided in the months to come, the UK will seek to still attract the “best and brightest” from the EU.

The news arrangements will seek to help businesses get the right staff, allow citizens to travel visa-free for tourism or temporary business trips, and help students study abroad.

Environment

This section reiterates a desire to maintain “high environmental standards” with a new statutory body to monitor this, but contains no details of what this would mean in practice.

Security partnership

This would mean continued sharing of data and information to protect citizens, and UK participation in agencies such as Europol. It would also involve coordination on foreign policy and defence issues.

Next steps

The final section of the white paper calls for negotiations to accelerate, saying that once a deal is reached it will be considered by parliament. It adds: “The UK and the EU have a shared ambition to agree both documents by October in order to give sufficient time for their respective parliaments to give their approval before the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019.”