BFF-52 Minister defends UK’s Brexit plan amid party, business concern

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BRITAIN-EU-BREXIT-POLITICS LEAD

Minister defends UK’s Brexit plan amid party, business concern

LONDON, July 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A senior British minister on Sunday
defended the government’s plan to adopt EU rules on goods after Brexit, amid
anger from MPs who want a cleaner break and concerns it will still harm
business.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, admitted
the proposal thrashed out by cabinet ministers during a day-long meeting on
Friday was not perfect.

But he told the BBC: “I’m a realist”, adding: “All of the important areas
where an independent country chooses to exercise sovereignty, Britain will be
able to do so.”

He stressed that Britain was leaving the European Union as planned in
March, adding: “You shouldn’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.”

Prime Minister Theresa May said that after agreeing a common approach, she
now expected years of ministerial in-fighting on Brexit to end.

But Sunday’s newspapers were full of reports of rebellion within her
Conservative party.

“There is a lot of unhappiness,” eurosceptic MP Bill Cash told Sky News
television, questioning if the proposal would lead to a “proper Brexit”.

On the other side of the debate, more than 100 British entrepreneurs and
business leaders said the plan was not enough to avoid disruption, and urged
Britain to stay in the EU’s customs union.

Dutch electronics giant Philips also warned that any changes to current
free trade agreements posed a “serious threat” to the competitiveness of its
British operations.

– Johnson’s criticism –

May’s plan would create a free trade area with the EU for goods, to protect
supply chains in areas such as manufacturing, while maintaining flexibility
for Britain’s dominant service sector.

It is unclear whether Brussels will accept this, after repeatedly warning
Britain it cannot “cherry-pick” bits of its single market.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit supporter, was widely
reported to have described the plan as a “turd” before agreeing to support
it.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said it appeared to run
contrary to promises to leave the EU’s single market and customs union.

“If the public perceive that not to be delivered then the government, I’m
afraid, will suffer the consequences at the next election,” he told the
Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

– Business warnings –

The opposition Labour party, by contrast, said the plan was “unworkable”
and urged MPs to back Britain’s continued membership of the customs union,
which will be put to a vote in the House of Commons on July 16.

A group of entrepreneurs, including the founders of Innocent Drinks, food
chain Pret a Manger, bookshop Waterstones and fashion retailer Net-A-Porter
among others, urged them on.

“The cost, complexity and bureaucracy created by crashing out of the
customs union and adopting alternative arrangements is the last thing that
our businesses need as we seek to grow,” they said in an open letter reported
in The Times.

Philips meanwhile became the latest firm to publicly warn about a break in
EU-UK ties, after Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Airbus all spoke out.

The Amsterdam-based group employs around 1,500 people in Britain, most
notably at its baby care products-for-export factory in Suffolk.

“I am deeply concerned about the competitiveness of our operations in the
UK, especially our manufacturing operations,” chief executive Frans van
Houten said in a statement to AFP.

“We estimate that the cost of the (Philips’) exported products will
increase substantially under any scenario that is not maintaining the single
customs union,” he said.

He added: “We need to do worst case scenario planning.”

BSS/AFP/ARS/1935 hrs