MP's customs union warning
Brexit will be "meaningless" unless Britain leaves the customs union, a county MP has told the Prime Minister.
Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative MP for Shrewsbury & Atcham, has written to Theresa May to tell her that he would not vote for a Brexit deal that sees the country remain in the European Union customs union.
His letter came ahead of a crunch meeting of the Prime Minister's cabinet to discuss the way forward over the customs union.
He said: "I have been greatly concerned recently to hear rumours that the government is considering altering its position with regard to leaving the European Union customs union and indeed the possibility of continued regulatory alignment in the form of the new customs partnership (NCP).
"I wish to put it on record that I could not in good conscience vote for an agreement that would keep us in the (or 'a') customs union or partnership as set out in the NCP proposal. In my view this would betray our manifesto commitment to no longer be members of the single market or the customs union. Furthermore, it would also, in effect, render Brexit meaningless, betraying also the over 17 million people who voted for Brexit."
Mr Kawczynski said that he believes remaining in the customs union would harm the government's ability to secure new trade deals.
He wrote: "My worry is that this will seriously damage our ability to sign FTA agreements. Indeed some of our biggest potential trading partners such as the United States and Australia have insisted that they will be unable to sign an FTA with us if we are unable to diverge from EU regulations.
"Would this not also void the cabinet agreement in Chequers that the UK would be able to diverge its regulatory system from the EU system? Again, my concern is that the NCP, in forcing the UK into regulatory alignment with the EU, would leave us in essentially the customs union, which, as I have said, is unacceptable."
He added: "I hope my opposition to remaining in a customs union with the EU is clear. As the Secretary of State for International Trade said this morning, "if we are in a customs union of any sort we will have less ability to shape Britain's future that we have today. That is not what the public voted for". I share his sentiments entirely."
