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Lidington says ‘movement’ needed to end Brexit impasse


Talks between the UK’s governing Conservative party and opposition Labour to end the Brexit impasse will require “movement on both sides”, the de facto deputy prime minister has said.

David Lidington said both parties were “testing” ways in which they “could move forward” and compromise on proposals for a future customs arrangement between the UK and EU.

EU leaders last week extended Brexit until October 31 to give UK politicians an opportunity to agree a deal. But Theresa May, the prime minister, has renewed efforts in recent days to quickly push through an agreement with help from Labour to avoid Britain having to contest the European parliamentary elections on May 23.

Labour has said Britain must stay within the EU’s common external tariff, which is a problem for many Conservatives MPs, who argue that remaining in a customs union would limit the ability of a post-Brexit UK to strike comprehensive trade deals around the world.

Questioned on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday on whether the government could accept a customs union with the EU after Brexit, Mr Lidington said: “What we have found in terms of objectives . . . there is fair bit that both parties would have in common.

“We are absolutely clear the objective is no tariffs, no quotas, no rules of origin checks. We still believe it is possible to have, in addition to those benefits of a traditional customs union, a freedom to do that independent trade deal with the rest of the world.

“If we are going to find an agreement there needs to be movement on both sides”, he said. “The question is what type of customs arrangement, what type of customs agreement can you then construct that gives us the benefits that we both want to see.”

Mr Lidington declined to give details of the negotiations. “I don’t want to compromise what is at the moment a space where we are testing with the opposition, they are testing with us, particular ways in which we could move forward,” he said.

Downing Street said talks would continue over the Easter break and senior figures would meet to negotiate in a series of new working groups on issues including workers rights, environmental standards and security.

The talks faltered last week, with the government abandoning tentative plans to bring the withdrawal agreement Mrs May agreed with the EU back to the House of Commons for a vote.

Many Labour MPs are hostile to the idea of any deal with the Conservatives that does not include a second EU referendum. If Mrs May agreed to a customs deal she could split her party and find herself forced to rely on Labour votes to pass her deal.

Mr Lidington said talks were “delicate” and that while there was no official deadline, they should not be allowed “to drag out for much longer”.

If the talks fail, the government hopes the two sides can identify a small number of options for the future relationship with the EU to put to MPs in a vote.

“What we want to do is agree a set of options with a system for making a choice with parliament actually having to come up with a preferred option rather than voting against everything,” Mr Lidington said.

Mrs May is under increasing pressure from her own backbench MPs to step aside and allow a Brexiter to lead the next phase of the talks.

Iain Duncan Smith, a Eurosceptic former cabinet minister and former leader of the Conservative party, urged Mrs May to step down next month.

“I know that the prime minister has already said she’s going. She said she would go as and when the agreement was ratified, which was looking at around about May, June. I think those dates still stand,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

“I think that what the PM has to do is aim everything now towards departure” before the European elections, he said. “[This] would then allow her to step away having done what she said she would do, getting the UK out of the European Union one way or the other and then we can have another leadership election and pick a new leader, which is the way it has to be,” he said.



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