Brexit Central: Government ‘lying to MPs’ over Brexit deal

The British government on Thursday published its long-awaited Brexit blueprint aimed at restarting stalled talks with the European Union, only for it to be panned by eurosceptics, the City of London and the USA president.

Trump’s remarks, made in a bombshell interview with The Sun published Thursday during his first visit to Britain as USA president, are an explosive intervention into British politics that seem likely to cause political chaos and imperil the prime minister as she attempts to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union. The plans laid out in a 98-page government paper give Britain’s most detailed answer yet to the question of what will replace it.

“I would have done it much differently”, Trump said of May’s Brexit plan.

Catherine McGuinness, head of policy for the City of London Corporation, said the proposals represented a “real blow” for finance firms.

In chaotic scenes, Speaker John Bercow was forced to suspend the sitting for five minutes as MPs complained that they had not had a chance to read the document.

Tory Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash, who chairs the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, said he was “deeply worried” that the plans for a free trade area in goods would result in Britain being forced to accept European regulations.

This is in spite of missives from the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, in which he has repeatedly said the European Union “cannot, and will not” share its decision-making powers with a third country.

This is one of many points in the white paper that is likely to annoy some members of Mrs May’s party.

The government said Britain would act “as if in a combined customs territory” with the European Union, using technology at its border to determine whether goods from third countries were bound for Britain or the European Union, and charging the appropriate tariffs in those cases.

The proposal comes days after senior ministers resigned from the cabinet against Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for what is being called as “soft-Brexit” as opposed to many of her ruling party colleagues, who have campaigned for “hard-Brexit”.

“We should welcome this”.

But the official also said it would be a challenge to implement the plans before transition ends in 2020 given that the European Parliament goes to the polls and a new European Commission is appointed next year, which typically means months of legislative inactivity.

“Equally, it’s not a solution”.

“While the paper provides an indication that the United Kingdom wants to participate in pan-EU programmes in areas such as science and research, there continue to be too many unknowns on issues such as whether the UK’s proposals can deliver continued use of the European Arrest Warrant and what they mean for the future migration of people”, Ms Hyslop said.

But while industry bodies decried the government’s decision, many banks and insurers had already scaled back their expectations of continued full access to the European Union market after Brexitand started opening new hubs in continental Europe.

The Financial Times has reported that one contingency plan being examined in case of a no-deal Brexit is using barges to help keep the lights on in Northern Ireland in case there is disruption to electricity imports from the Republic of Ireland.

The two leaders will hold talks at the prime minister’s country residence of Chequers where Russia, Brexit and the Middle East will top the agenda. As such, a new plan for the financial services sector must be created.