Brexit hardliners prepare to back deal with Brussels

Brexit hardliners are preparing to support Boris Johnson’s Christmas Eve trade deal with Brussels in large numbers.

Boris Johnson. Picture: AFP

Brexit hardliners are preparing to support Boris Johnson’s Christmas Eve trade deal with Brussels in large numbers — but accused the Prime Minister of showing “contempt” for parliament by confining discussion of it to a day.

MPs will vote on the deal on Wednesday, although members of the European Research Group of Brexiteers demanded that a binding vote be delayed for three weeks to allow full scrutiny of a treaty that will define relations for decades.

Britain and the EU on Saturday published the full text of the deal reached last Thursday.

The 1246-page document lays out detail on trade, law enforcement and dispute settlement among other arrangements after the UK leaves the single market and Customs union on Thursday.

Despite the complexity of the document, which includes explanatory notes and side agreements on nuclear co-operation and the exchange of classified information, both sides have indicated they will rush through the adoption.

The ERG’s “star chamber” of experts will declare by Tuesday whether it backs the deal in the House of Commons, where the Conservative party has an 80-seat majority. One leading light said members had not yet found any “absolute horrors”.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the group’s lawyers were “far better than anything the government has got”.

“The government legal service make so many mistakes in European treaties. Time and again the EU tricks them. We will do them a favour by exposing what they have got rather than what they say they have got,” Sir Iain said.

“We had 25 days of debate on the Maastricht treaty.”

About 10 Tories are expected to rebel, but the bigger rebellion could be in Labour ranks over leader Keir Starmer’s decision to vote for the deal. Sir Keir is braced for six frontbench resignations and about 20 rebel MPs.

On Saturday night, Mr Johnson said he was confident the deal would survive the “ruthless scrutiny by the scholiasts of the star chamber”. He told The Sunday Telegraph: “Freedom is what you make of it.”

In the end, as many predicted it would, the deal came down to cars versus fish. During one-on-one negotiations on Wednesday, Mr Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen traded percentages, years and quotas over two of the most symbolic industries affected by Britain’s departure from the EU. Mr Johnson relaxed his demand that EU fishing fleets must lose their automatic right to fish in UK waters in three years. Ms von der Leyen agreed that cars assembled in Britain would not have to pay EU tariffs, even if most of their components were made in Japan or Korea.

David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, said on Saturday the deal was “one of the biggest and broadest agreements ever covering not just trading goods, but services, aviation, road transport, social security, health co-operation, law enforcement”.

“This should be the beginning of a moment of national renewal for us,” Lord Frost said, reiterating that the agreement did not align Britain to the EU rules and the European Court of Justice.

Britain’s fishing industry expressed bitter disappointment, saying the five-year transition period when EU fleets would have free access to fish in UK waters, including up to 10km off the shoreline, was “pathetic”. “In the end, it was clear Johnson wanted an overall trade deal and was willing to sacrifice fishing,” said Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations.

In Brussels, the European Commission has proposed the agreement be applied on a provisional basis until 28 February.

The European parliament will be asked for its consent to the deal next year and for the process to be concluded the council must adopt the decision. All 27 member states of the EU have indicated they will formally back the deal within a matter of days.

The Sunday Times