Boris Johnson’s government has said the UK will reject any trade deal with the EU that includes “high alignment” on rules with the bloc and any future role for the European Court of Justice.
The British prime minister is expected to set out his vision for future relations with the EU in a speech on Monday. But his hard-headed approach is likely to clash with the mandate set out by the bloc, which is due to be released on the same day and is expected to aim at maintaining a level-playing field and close trading relations.
Dominic Raab, UK foreign secretary, said “the issue of alignment” is “not even in the negotiating room”. He added that agreeing to such an arrangement would “defeat the point of Brexit”.
“We are taking back control of our laws so we’re not going to have high alignment with the EU,” he told Sky News. “I can reassure our friends and partners that we will not be insisting that they align with our rules as a price for a free trade deal with the UK, that’s not the way free trade deals are done globally.”
Government officials said that Mr Johnson was annoyed that the EU had allegedly been “changing the terms” of what was set out in the revised political declaration for future relations agreed late last year.
EU officials insist that the bloc’s demands are justified and that some of them have been misinterpreted in the UK. Brussels will not demand that the European courts govern any future relationship deal, noted one official. Their role would be confined to adjudicating disputes over how to interpret EU laws.
“The EU isn’t asking for the ECJ to have full oversight,” said the official.
Brussels also insists that the level playing field is justified by the extent of the market access foreseen in the political declaration, including tariff-free and quota-free trade in goods, as well as extensive regulatory co-operation. The declaration commits Britain to “uphold the common high standards” in place at the end of the transition period in areas such as environmental and social policy.
Paris and other EU capitals have called for the bloc to make more far reaching demands, saying that the UK should stay in synch with changes to EU law — something known in Brussels jargon as “dynamic alignment”.
Whereas a trade deal akin to the one Canada has with the EU would keep tariffs to a minimum, an Australian-style agreement would be similar to a no-deal Brexit with trading on basic World Trade Organization terms.
British references to the Australia model have sparked confusion in Brussels, given that Canberra is in the process of negotiating a wide-ranging trade deal with the EU in order to have a closer economic relationship.
Mr Johnson is expected to say on Monday that the UK will not align with any EU rules or allow the ECJ to oversee trade relations with the UK. He is also likely to rule out involving the National Health Service in any trade deals, or relaxing workers’ rights, food or environment standards once the transition phase ends in December 2020.
He will also demand the UK is treated as an equal by the EU during the negotiations, expected to commence in March, but also state he is ready to accept some trading friction in return for looser trading ties.
The speech will simultaneously outline Mr Johnson’s domestic priorities, including a major infrastructure investment programme.
Meanwhile a leaked memo from Mr Raab ordered British diplomats to break with their EU counterparts and “sit separately”, warning that the UK has left the EU and should not “seek residual influence”.
“We do not accept that the EU can prevent us from speaking or clear our interventions” if the UK takes up different foreign policy positions during the “transition” phase,” according to the memo, published in the Sunday Times.
Additional reporting by Jim Brunsden in Brussels
