UK Edition
Lord Lawson calls for 'clean Brexit' in which Britain quits single market and customs union
Theresa May must negotiate a “clean Brexit” which sees Britain quit both the single market and the customs union, a former Tory chancellor says.
Lord Lawson has written a foreword to a paper by Gerard Lyons, former chief economic adviser to Boris Johnson, and economist Liam Halligan, which calls for Britain to pull out the single market and the customs union to ensure that the UK has control of its borders.
The paper is also backed by Lord Owen, the former Labour Foreign Secretary who left the party to co-found the SDP.
Lord Lawson writes: “The case for us being , in common with the rest of the world, outside both the so-called Single Market and the Customs Union, is incontrovertible. This is not a ‘Hard’ Brexit: it is Brexit.”
The customs union allows the free trade of goods to those who are members, but members also have to apply the same tariffs to goods that imported from outside the union.
This is seen as a significant disadvantage after Britain leaves the EU, as ministers are keen that he UK should be able to set the terms of its own deals.
This comes, as a cross-party committee has said Theresa May should make clear whether she aims to keep Britain in the European single market and customs union when she publishes her Brexit negotiations plan.
The House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee also said the Prime Minister must commit to giving MPs a vote on the final deal which she secures with the remaining 27 members.
The committee said that Mrs May must publish her plan in the form of a White Paper by mid-February, to give MPs a chance to debate it before the Prime Minister kicks off negotiations by tabling Article 50 in March.
The Prime Minister signed up to a Labour motion requiring her to publish details of her plans for Brexit before the invocation of Article 50, but has so far given little indication of what it will contain. The PM - who will deliver a major speech on Britain's post-EU future on Tuesday - has also held back from revealing whether MPs will be granted a vote on the Brexit deal.
In its first report, the committee - which includes prominent Brexiteers like Michael Gove, John Whittingdale and Dominic Raab, as well as former backers of the Remain campaign - warned that the task of preparing for Brexit was placing "strain" on departments across government.
Managing and implementing the decisions required to prepare for life outside the EU will be a "significant challenge" for the civil service for a matter of years and "may well" require the recruitment of more staff, it warned.
The report said ministers should seek an outline framework of the UK's future trading relationship with the EU as part of the Article 50 negotiations, with appropriate transitional arrangements to allow trade to continue normally if a deal is not reached in time for the expected Brexit date of 2019. But it warned that this "will not be in the Government's gift to deliver", as the EU may insist on delaying trade talks until after the withdrawal negotiations are over.
It would be "unsatisfactory and potentially damaging" to both the EU and UK if Britain tumbled out of the bloc without a deal when the two-year Article 50 deadline expires, the committee warned. An abrupt "cliff edge" departure would be "extremely disruptive" and the absence of transitional arrangements could push some businesses to relocate out of the UK or move investment overseas.
The committee argued that the Government should seek to ensure continued access to EU markets for UK financial services providers - whether through the extension of "passporting" rights or an agreement on mutual recognition of regulations. And it said it was "essential" that co-operation should continue on defence, foreign policy, security, financial crime and counter-terrorism.
Committee chair Hilary Benn said: "This is going to be a hugely complex task and the outcome will affect us all.
"Whatever deal is concluded, Parliament must be given a vote on it and the Government should make this clear now."
The report also called for devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as the English regions, to be "duly involved" in the Brexit process and have their views taken into account. It was "essential" that the stability of Northern Ireland is not jeopardised by EU withdrawal.