Cabinet row erupts as Liam Fox and Boris Johnson insist Brexit transition must be no longer than 12 months
New government proposals call for a temporary customs union with the EU to help businesses prepare, infuriating the Foreign and International Trade Secretaries
A FRESH Cabinet row has broken out after Liam Fox and Boris Johnson insisted any Brexit transition must be no longer than 12 months.
New government proposals today called for a temporary customs union with the EU after Britain’s exit to help businesses prepare.
Ministers conceded the plan would mean the UK could not implement any new global trade deals for as long as it stays in place.
Brexit Secretary David Davis aligned himself with Philip Hammond’s softer Brexit camp today when he said the transition would last “somewhere like two years”.
The Chancellor is pushing for as long a transition as possible after pleas from worried businesses.
But his allies’ declaration of victory has infuriated the Foreign and International Trade Secretaries.
The Sun can reveal that the Cabinet’s two leading hardline Brexiteers have now joined forces to dig in and insist the UK must be free to reap the benefits of new trade deals across the globe within a year of Brexit happening on March 30, 2019.
A source close to Boris and Dr Fox said: “No length of time had been signed off by the Cabinet for the transition period yet, so it’s utterly wrong of Hammond and Davis to be waving around two or three years.
“There will be very big trouble ahead if they carry on like this.
“Liam and Boris see one year as the maximum period we would ever need. There is a world out there waiting for us, and we need to get on with embracing it.”
The fresh row shatters a delicate truce brokered by No10 between Mr Hammond and Mr Fox last weekend.
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The formal customs plans paper published today gave no mention of any transition time frame.
Other hardline Brexit campaigners also attacked the transition plan today.
Former UKIP boss Nigel Farage accused the government of surrender, saying: “Today is a big victory for the European Commission. The government has shown great weakness.
“On the current timetabling, President Trump will be near end of his second term before we could enact a US trade deal.
The government also proposed two options for a longterm customs deal with the EU after the transition, a major streamlining of new border processes and a new customs-free arrangement to keep trade as free as possible.
Chancellor Philip Hammond today dubbed the two longterm proposals as “ambitious, and rightly so”.
But pro-EU critics of the plan attacked it for ladelling red tape on businesses after the Brexit ministry admitted they would see “an increase in administration”.
Consultants Ernst and Young also warned a new customs arrangement would be a major tech challenge for the civil service to deliver, saying that “anything shorter than a four year delivery window could pose major risks”.
Europe’s politicians also criticised the government’s plans for being unrealistic.
Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney said more detailed thinking from the government was “welcome”, but branded Britain’s bid for a temporary customs deal while negotiating new trade deals at the same time as “difficult”.
The European Parliament’s chief negotiator, arch federalist Guy Verhofstadt, dubbed the proposals for invisible borders as “fantasy”.
But in the proposals, ministers also warned Europe’s leaders that failing to give Britain a good customs deal would mean a mountain of new red tape and tax for their own businesses.
It also confirmed that the government has begun preparations for a worst case ‘no deal’ scenario on trade borders which would see thousands of companies across Europe forced to join a new registration system before they are allowed to import goods into the UK, submitting a mountain of declarations about them, and paying VAT on them as well.