U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May won the backing of her divided Brexit “war cabinet” to ask for an ambitious trade deal with the European Union after a marathon eight-hour meeting at her country house. But the EU isn’t buying it.
When negotiations with the EU on the future trade talks open next month, Britain will ask to keep the bloc’s regulations “on a voluntary basis” for key industry sectors such as car-making, according to senior minister Jeremy Hunt. May will outline the strategy in a speech on March 2, her spokesman said.
The real test, however, will come when May’s team put their demands to the EU. The European Commission has already said it won’t accept the approach she’s been taking so far.
“The central common understanding is that there will be areas and sectors of industry where we agree to align our regulations with European regulations—the automotive industry is perhaps an obvious example because of supply chains that are integrated— but it will be on a voluntary basis,” Hunt told BBC Radio’s Today program.
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The agreement among May’s top ministers—who include chief Brexit-backer Boris Johnson and pro-EU Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond—now means that May can write the speech setting out her negotiating goals next week.
Talks with the EU in Brussels are due to turn to the future trading relationship after a summit on March 22. The two sides are aiming to wrap up the basic framework of a free trade agreement by October.
Hunt, the health secretary, wasn’t present at the gathering of May’s Brexit strategy group but was sent onto the radio to brief the world on what happened. He confirmed there were “divergent views” among ministers but said the meeting “was a very positive discussion and we have made good progress.”
“We will, as a sovereign power, have the right to choose to diverge,” Hunt said. “What we won’t be doing is accepting changes in rules because the EU unilaterally chooses to make those changes.”
It seems unlikely that the EU will sign up to such a plan. The European Commission—and leaders such as Germany’s Angela Merkel—have repeatedly ruled out allowing Britain to “cherry pick” the best bits of EU membership without accepting the obligations it entails.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, an ally of the U.K. who wants Britain to stay close to the EU after the split, also made clear on Friday that picking and choosing wasn’t an option.
“If you want something there are certain rules we all have to abide by,” he told reporters in Brussels.
On Wednesday, the Commission published a slideshow presentation that rejected the U.K.’s emerging strategy as “not compatible with the principles” of the bloc’s negotiating position.
If the EU pushes back against May’s proposals, the unity of her Cabinet will be tested again. At the same time, she’s facing plots from her opponents in Parliament, with rebel Conservatives backing moves to keep the U.K. in the EU’s customs union for goods trade.
And the opposition Labour Party is widely expected to throw its weight behind a close customs union deal when its leader Jeremy Corbyn outlines his priorities in a speech on Monday.
So far, May is holding firm to her course of taking Britain out of both the EU single market and customs union. Staying in any formal customs union with the bloc would stop the U.K. being able to sign free trade deals with other countries around the world, a key goal for the pro-Brexit campaign.
