May under mounting pressure to keep Britain in customs union

Theresa May was under mounting pressure last night to keep Britain in a customs union with the European Union after Conservative rebels joined opposition MPs to call for a change in her government’s policy. MPs backed a non-binding motion in favour of a customs union, with Conservatives abstaining to avoid a vote.

Ten Conservatives have already signed a binding amendment to a trade Bill next month that would oblige Britain to remain in a customs union. Other Conservatives spoke in favour of last night’s motion, suggesting that the rebels could defeat the government next month.

The prime minister this week restated her determination to leave the customs union and the single market when Britain leaves the EU. But MPs warned that her pledge was incompatible with promises to keep trade frictionless and avoid the return of a hard border.

Labour’s Yvette Cooper warned that any new infrastructure on the Border, including cameras, represented a potential threat to peace in Northern Ireland.

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Symbolic infrastructure

“The concern relates to what happens around the Border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, and the introduction of new infrastructure at that Border, especially such symbolic infrastructure, and especially anything that would increase the sense of there being targets for dissident organisations. We do not want them to become more active and have more to focus on,” she said.

Antrim-born Kate Hoey, one of a small number of Labour MPs who backed Brexit, said that nobody was talking about a return to large, intrusive border structures but the issue of the Border was being used in an attempt to thwart Brexit. She criticised Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and said the Government ought to be helping Britain to achieve a good deal that would also benefit Ireland.

We still have a few discussions to be had in a really positive, consensual and easy way among some of my cabinet colleagues in order to arrive at a final position

“Varadkar and the Irish Government should get in there and use their position to get the European Union to see some common sense. Such a small proportion of total European Union trade relates to the Republic of Ireland, yet the Irish Government have got into a position where it is their country that the European Union is listening to,” she said.

Cast doubt

Earlier, Downing Street issued a sharp correction after home secretary Amber Rudd appeared to cast doubt on the government’s determination to leave the customs union. Answering questions from journalists at Westminster, Ms Rudd said she would “not be drawn” on whether Britain could still be in a customs union after Brexit.

“We still have a few discussions to be had in a really positive, consensual and easy way among some of my cabinet colleagues in order to arrive at a final position,” she said.

After Downing Street insisted that the government’s position had not changed, Ms Rudd tweeted her own clarification: “Of course when we leave the EU we will be leaving the customs union.”

The House of Lords last week backed an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill calling on the government to explore the option of remaining in a customs union with the EU.