EU’s top negotiator rejects key elements of UK’s post-Brexit plan
The revelation is more ammunition for critics of British PM Theresa May plus opponents of the move to leave the European Union
The European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has warned that two key elements of Britain’s post-Brexit trade plan are “not acceptable”, according to remarks to a parliamentary committee published on Friday.
The transcript of a hearing held earlier in the week contradicts a claim made by a pro-EU opposition MP that Barnier said the entire proposal was “dead”.
However, he made it clear the EU would not accept London’s proposals for customs arrangements and for a common EU-UK rule book on goods to ease trade between the sides after Brexit.
They “would call into question the very integrity of our single market … That is totally out of the question”, he told the House of Commons Brexit committee at a hearing in Brussels on Monday.
His comments will embolden critics of Prime Minister Theresa May’s so-called Chequers plan in Britain, who argue that trying to stay close to the EU while cutting some ties is the worst of all worlds.
The plan is opposed by both Brexit supporters in May’s own Conservative party, among them former ministers David Davis and Boris Johnson, and some of those who want Britain to stay in the EU.