Its authors claim this report holds the key to delivering the ‘Brexit prize’, but what does it recommend?

It has been billed by Jacob Rees-Mogg as the “most exciting contribution” to the Brexit debate in months, proposing a Canada-style free trade deal as an alternative to Theresa May’s Chequers plan.

The free-market thinktank the Institute for Economic Affairs’ report Plan A+: Creating a Prosperous Post-Brexit UK claims it can deliver the “Brexit prize” and has already won the backing of leading Brexiters David Davis and Boris Johnson and former Treasury minister Greg Hands.

It recommends ditching Chequers and introducing a new Anglo-Irish agreement to preserve the open border with a new law in Britain making it a crime to export to the “Irish market” in breach of the new arrangements.

The main points:

NAME OF DEAL

Jacob Rees-Mogg, implying the name did not matter, said it could be called: “Canada plus; Super Canada; or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Canada.”

DRAFT WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT

The IEA suggests sticking to the arrangements already made with the EU on the £39bn divorce bill, EU citizens and the transition period. But it says there should be a new backstop for Ireland involving new laws.

CHEQUERS

The IEA says a common rulebook for goods but not services, as suggested under the Chequers proposals, makes trade deals with non-EU countries “all but impossible”.

TRADE

The IEA calls for the elimination of tariffs and quotas on all products the UK does not produce, including foodstuffs that cannot be grown here such as avocados, oranges and rice. It wants to restore sovereignty over British waters in fisheries policy and says the UK should join numerous global trade organisations as soon as possible, including the Cairns Group of agricultural exporters. It says membership of the EU is bad for growth in Britain. It “saddles the UK with regulations that protect large incumbent businesses from competition” and “prevents the UK from entering into its own free trade agreements with countries outside the EU”.

REGULATION

The report’s supporters say they are not suggesting scrapping regulation but are seeking “better” regulation. David Davis, at its launch, said: “The issue on regulation is ‘who decides?’ Under Chequers it’s the EU, under ‘free trade plus’ it’s us that decides.”

IRELAND

It says Northern Ireland will be treated differently to the rest of the UK. It should retain all existing animal and plant food health checks, with the UK committed to updating these for Northern Ireland only in accordance with EU law. It says the UK should pass a law making it a crime to export or knowingly freight “non-compliant” goods to the “Irish market”. Checks extending beyond animals and food, including for medicines, should be done away from the border with close cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic underpinned by a specific Anglo-Irish chapter in the final free trade agreement. It says there should be random checks around the border and on farms and production plants elsewhere.

IMMIGRATION

The report says free movement from the EU should be replaced with a worldwide system that “recognises the economic and social benefits and costs of immigration”.