Cabinet Leavers reject Theresa May’s plan to keep Britian half in EU single market branding it ‘a plot to frustrate Brexit’
If successful, we would stay very close to EU's rules for hard goods, but diverge on the services sector
A NEW compromise bid by Theresa May to keep Britain half in the EU’s single market has been rejected by Cabinet Leavers as “a plot to frustrate Brexit”.
The Sun can reveal that the PM’s top EU advisor Oli Robbins pitched the plan to a key meeting of the PM's 11-strong Brexit Committee on Thursday.
Under it, Britain would maintain very close alignment to the EU’s rule book for hard goods, but diverge from Brussels edicts on the services sector.
That would keep trade and supply lines for products such as machinery, cars and planes flowing freely with Europe and protect jobs, Mr Robbins argued.
It was spun to the committee as a halfway house between the Cabinet’s Brexit campaigners and former Remainers lead by Chancellor Philip Hammond.
But it failed to unite them, and only deepened the committee’s deadlock.
Leave-backing ministers claimed the plan would mean still having to abide by new EU rules, including dictats from the European Court of Justice.
A senior Tory MP briefed on the Cabinet committee’s discussion told The Sun: “Fox, Gove and Boris have made it clear they will not accept single market rules, because it means being dictated to by Brussels forever.
“How can we defend that in the House of Commons?
“It makes us little more than a colony of the EU, and the PM has been told that.”
The MP added: “It feels very much like a Treasury plot to frustrate Brexit”.
James Forsyth reveals in his Sun column that Boris Johnson is still leading opposition to the principle of EU alignment.
The Foreign Secretary has complained that forcing British companies to abide by Brussels rules would also stifle innovation, as well as harm prospects for new free trade deals with the rest of the world.
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The new Cabinet committee row means Mrs May is now facing a major showdown with her top table of ministers during an away day to finally agree their demands for a Brexit trade deal once and for all.
As The Sun revealed on Thursday, the PM called the Chequers summit for two weeks time to end the dither.
James Forsyth also reveals that the senior ministers invited have been told they will have a marathon 10 session of talks during it, that could run well into the night.