Johnson creates new Brexit intervention as May stays firm

Bloomberg

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made a fresh intervention in the debate over Britain’s future
relationship with the European Union, even as Prime Minister Theresa May said she won’t be
derailed in her strategy.
Johnson called for a “liberal Brexit” in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, as he said the advantages of leaving haven’t been properly outlined for the public. He said the UK must strike a trade deal that gives it the power to discard EU laws and failure to do so would render Britain a “vassal state” of Brussels.
His comments undermine a fragile truce that May struck with her warring cabinet in making a deal with the EU this month to move talks onto trade. May is trying to balance the demands of Brexit supporters such as Johnson against those in her party pushing for a closer relationship with the bloc, who helped inflict a defeat on the government last week in a vote on Brexit legislation.
May wrote in the Telegraph newspaper that she has silenced doubters by securing an agreement in the first stage of neg-
otiations. Talks will now begin “immediately” on agreeing the implementation period, she said.
This period will be strictly
time limited and is likely to last for about two years, she has
said previously. Britain will use the time to keep relations essentially unchanged, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said.
“We won’t technically or legally be in the customs union or in the single market, but we’re committed, as a result of the agreem-
ent we made this week, to creating an environment which will
effectively replicate the current status quo,” he said.
That may concern more hardline supporters of Brexit. The UK can’t do “proper free trade deals” with other countries if it fails to get an agreement that allows divergence from EU laws, Johnson said, adding he was planning an intervention on the issue this week. The cabinet will next meet on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Immigration Brandon Lewis backed May’s position in a Sky News interview, saying last week’s agreement
was “something many doubters thought wasn’t possible.
She’s delivered on that. We are delivering Brexit.”
In an example of the policy challenges from the split that lie ahead, a parliamentary committee warned that the effectiveness of UK sanctions will be undermined post Brexit unless it can quickly agree arrangements for future policy co-operation with the EU. Otherwise, Britain could be left with the choice of imposing less effective unilateral sanctions or aligning with those of the bloc, having no influence over them.