The Clash Cabinet is the first test of the UK's new Brexit strategy

July 10, 2018 11:55 AM

Mrs. The May Brexit proposal, approved by cabinet on Friday, is pretty close to the EU. It would keep the United Kingdom within the EU's single market for goods, including food, and would include a complicated and untested arrangement to avoid the need for further customs controls at the borders between the UK and the EU. May's choice seems to have been influenced by the growing concerns of major manufacturers – publicly expressed by companies like

Airbus SE

Jaguar Land Rover and

Honda Engine
Co.

Ltd.

They and others worry that their sensitive just-in-time supply chains will be seriously disrupted if new controls are erected at the border between the EU and the United States. # 39; EU. Ms May was also trying to keep her promise that Brexit would not result in the reappearance of a physical border on the island of Ireland.

May knew that it would be difficult to keep his cabinet united, and ministers last week asked other European capitals not to disrupt its internal deliberations. Thursday night, according to a European official, the European Commission has received several messages from London, Paris and Berlin – orchestrated in London – to refrain from publishing details on a proposal for a solution at the Irish border in order not to scuttle a deal. The details have not been published. The British government did not immediately respond to requests for comment

Like most battle plans, Theresa May's draft Brexit is unlikely to survive her first engagement with the opponent. In appearance, it is an attractive economic proposition for the block, allowing unfettered trade in goods – with which the EU has a big surplus with the UK – and accepting this trade in services, where the UK has a surplus with the EU,

But it breaks the declared red lines of the EU: no country can choose between the parts of the single market that it likes and the parties that he does not want.

Brussels has a fundamental objection to British plans remaining in part of the EU's single market while insisting that it has the right to regulate itself: this would give British legislators and judges authority over products that can circulate in the EU.

Yet Brussels abounds with lawyers and the much vaunted legal order that brings together its 28 states is an elastic concept that is sometimes strained for political reasons – though this is usually done for a member state rather than for a state considering leaving. And at least the UK has finally set up a vision of a future relationship that the EU can discuss.

But even if the United Kingdom proposal were to be accepted by the EU, one wonders if it would worry the big builders

According to the plan, the British Parliament would have control over it. incorporation of EU rules into UK legislation "with the ability not to do so, recognizing that this would have consequences."

This raises the prospect that at any time lawmakers in London might decide not to enlist a new EU law in the UK's book of laws, a move that would likely lead to suspension of the United Kingdom's special accession to the EU single market

. the pledge would put a gun at the head of the British Parliament. That's why

David Davis,

the Brexit minister who resigned Sunday night said in his resignation letter that the "supposed control of parliament" would be "illusory rather than real".

Yet, if the British Parliament is content to approve European legislation, the single market Time is becoming more expensive for the British since the EU is legislating more rules and regulations without the United Kingdom at the table.

This seems to be an inherently unstable arrangement that will probably not convince manufacturers that their pan-European supply chains will remain intact. It is more likely that the EU will reject the UK proposal, forcing the government of May to think about possible new concessions. make. It's just the prospect envisioned by Mr. Davis. "I am not convinced that our negotiating approach will not only lead to new demands for concessions," he wrote.

This request could either lead the United Kingdom to tighten its ties with the EU. its customs union and therefore slavery of the whole EU regulation – or push it further towards an arrangement closer to the trade agreement that the EU has with Canada.

But time is running out. It is not clear that any option is favored by a clear majority in Parliament, leaving a new chaos more likely than not. Ms. May may well overcome this week's resignations. But before March 29, when Britain will leave the EU, it will likely face even tougher tests.

-Valentina Pop in Brussels contributed to this article.

Writing to Stephen Fidler at [email protected]