Chair of Brexit committee says time is running out for ministers to decide on their final goals

Ruling out any continued customs union with the EU is “a profound mistake”, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, Hilary Benn, has said, warning that it could both harm the economy and risk conflict in Northern Ireland.

Speaking after Downing Street said the UK would not be involved in either the current customs union or a new union to replace it, at the start of a crucial week of Brexit discussions, Benn said time was running out for ministers to decide on their final goals.

“I wish [Downing Street’s statement] was clarity but I don’t think it is,” Benn told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I think the government is in a state of open disagreement. The prime minister has been immobilised. We’re 19 months since the referendum … and we still don’t know what it is we want.”

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, was due to meet Theresa May and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, in Downing Street on Monday. Key cabinet colleagues will meet on Wednesday and Thursday to decide the details of the government’s policy regarding a customs union.

A Downing Street source said on Sunday: “It is not our policy to be in the customs union. It is not our policy to be in a customs union.” The statement went further than May, who, on Friday, refused to rule out involvement in a customs union when questioned during her visit to China.

The source said a customs union was entirely different from a customs arrangement, which would allow the government to strike trade deals with countries outside the EU. The source also claimed that there had been no change in policy, saying the statement was a reiteration of policy outlined in a paper published in August.

Benn, who chairs the Exiting the EU committee in the House of Commons, said it was “a very serious moment for our country”.

He said: “I think it’s a profound mistake to leave a customs union with the European Union.” Doing so would necessarily involve a return to some sort of checks on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which could jeopardise the peace process, he warned.

More widely, Benn said there was “disfunction at the heart of government”, which meant big decisions were not being taken, causing massive uncertainty for businesses.

Part of the problem, he argued, was the rigid timetable imposed by May and her team. He said: “If you set red lines and fixed dates and you impose rigidity on a process that is incredibly complex, you end up in trouble.

“And what the government is now coming face to face with is the consequences of red lines it set, including saying leaving the customs union is what they want to do.”

The attempt at Downing Street to give some clarity over the customs union followed a weekend of press coverage about supposed Brexit splits in government, including speculation that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove could try to take power.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Priti Patel, the former international development secretary who supports a hard Brexit, said talk of a challenge to May should end immediately.

“She is our prime minister and that’s not going to change, full stop,” she said.

Patel welcomed the comments on the customs union: “That is the discussion that is taking place this week at cabinet. The reality is, having alignment with the European Union on a customs arrangement is so far away from what the British public voted for, that that is what has to be delivered.”



