Soft-Brexit Lawmakers Fight for Customs Union in Commons Battle

A group of pro-European lawmakers are using the tools of Parliament to try to force Prime Minister Theresa May to maintain trade ties with Europe after Brexit, a move that will delight business but stoke further division within May’s Conservative Party.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Ken Clarke and former Business Minister Anna Soubry have proposed an amendment that would oblige May to try to keep the U.K. in the European Union’s customs union after Brexit. The pair are Conservatives with a track record of rebelling against the government and are backed by Labour lawmakers including Chuka Umunna and Chris Leslie.

“If you look at the maths, the number of Tory mutineers and then you add some, if they’re able to get their act together with Labour, then mathematically there’s a majority for this,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “It’s beginning to get to crunch point here, and there’s only so long that people who are worried about the direction things are heading in are going to sit on their hands.”

Ken Clarke and Anna Soubry
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The Cabinet has yet to decide what kind of trading relationship it wants with the EU after it leaves as ministers are deeply divided. Brexit-backing Trade Secretary Liam Fox said in an interview on Friday that staying in any customs union would be a failure to take back control. The Financial Times reported that May’s team is considering seeking a new customs union with the bloc, a policy that’s unacceptable to many in the pro-Brexit camp as it would leave Britain unable to pursue its own trade policy.

Key Issue

Membership of the customs union goes to the heart of the Brexit debate as it sets those arguing for continuity and business interests against those who put sovereignty and the narrative of a global free-trading nation first. The Confederation of British Industry has called for the U.K. to remain in the customs union and the opposition Labour Party has ambiguously backed a similar arrangement.

Keeping the customs union would go some way to resolving the thorny question of the Irish border, and would allow the U.K. to keep its red line of controlling immigration. Turkey has a customs union with the EU but isn’t in the bloc or the single market.

The cross-party amendment was added to the government’s Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Bill, and says: “It shall be a negotiating objective of Her Majesty’s Government in negotiations on the matters specified in subsection (2) to maintain the United Kingdom’s participation in the EU Customs Union.” No date has been set for a debate.

Pro-EU lawmakers orchestrated a defeat of the government late last year by amending a piece of landmark Brexit legislation, and there are signs that they are increasingly organized.

May’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters in London on Friday that her position remains to leave the customs union, but that she has “an open mind” on future customs arrangements with the EU.

Bale said pro-EU lawmakers will have to push for membership of “a” customs union, rather than “the” customs union to increase their chances of success. Fox earlier ruled out membership of any customs union, as any such arrangement would prevent trade deals with other countries.

Pro-EU lawmakers are facing a fierce backlash from Brexit supporters, who accuse them of trying to thwart the will of the people.

“They worry about being accused of staying in what we’ve got already, so it would have to be rebranded,” Bale said by phone. “A rebrand from “the” to “a” might work, but whether it will work from the point of view of the EU is another matter.”

Another round of Brexit talks gets under way next week and the EU is eager to hear from London what kind of trade deal it wants. The EU says that Britain’s own red lines reduce the options on the table.

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