London : From the fire of Westminster’s Brexit crisis has emerged an alternative idea for an EU exit deal that might command majority House of Commons support: the permanent customs union.
After the devastating defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit package, some cabinet ministers, Remain supporters and Labour opposition MPs are rallying around a softer EU-UK relationship that would still give Britain control over immigration.
Such a permanent customs union would diverge from the British prime minister’s plan by ditching hopes of the UK signing comprehensive trade deals with the rest of the world after Brexit.
But leaving the single market would give Westminster more independence to set its own laws than the so-called Norway model, backed by other factions in parliament, which would tie Britain more closely to the EU’s legal regime.
Most important of all, unlike other options — such as a second referendum or a no-deal Brexit — the customs plan could have a parliamentary majority because of support from Labour. A permanent customs union has been Labour’s formal position since late 2017.
The drawback is that the customs plan raises many of the same problems that previous initiatives faced.
“Neither a customs union or the Norway solution is pain-free,” said David Henig, a former British trade official. “The former involves loss of control of trade policy, the latter freedom of movement and continued alignment with single-market regulation, and neither fully solves the Irish border issue.”
Put another way, the plan would badly divide the Tory party, create barriers with Northern Ireland, and raise questions over sovereignty, money and power that Downing Street once sought to sidestep.
It would also involve the UK government working with — and trusting — Mr Corbyn, the most leftwing Labour leader in history, who viscerally loathes the Conservative party.
Second referendum supporters such as Dominic Grieve, a former attorney-general, argue the approach does little more than “brush problems under the carpet”. One EU ambassador in Brussels admitted it was “hard to see” how the customs union would provide “a satisfying answer”.
