Hold your nerve on Brexit, May tells cabinet

Ministers agree to support Theresa May’s Chequers plan.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond. Picture: AFP

Theresa May has faced down cabinet critics of her Chequers plan and won backing from ministers to sell it to next week’s Conservative Party conference.

The Prime Minister also sec­ured cabinet agreement yesterday for a new immigration system after Brexit, despite objections from Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how the change should be managed.

A threatened rebellion from Brexiteer ministers demanding that Mrs May seek a looser, ­Canada-style deal with the EU failed to materialise after she told colleagues to hold their nerve in the face of opposition from Brussels.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid presented details of a “global” immigration system at yesterday’s meeting alongside Alan Manning, chairman of the ­Migration Advisory Committee.

Downing Street said the system should make it easier for high-skilled rather than low-skilled workers to come to Britain: “The cabinet agreed that, once free movement is brought to an end, the government will be able to introduce a new system which works in the best interests of the UK, including by helping to boost productivity.”

Mr Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark called for businesses to be given more help to adapt to a new system, and opposed any form of “cliff edge”.

They were not backed by other Remain-supporting cabinet ministers. A Whitehall source said the chancellor had supported Mr Javid’s broad proposals, accepting that he had shifted his position on migration during this year.

“Philip Hammond did not argue to continue free movement, nor did he argue against curbs to low-skilled migration,” the source said.

“What Greg Clark pushed for yesterday — and Philip Hammond agreed with him — was to avoid a cliff-edge policy which involves a sudden big change for business. They lost that argument.”

Another Whitehall source said: “We were worried there would be some pretty binding restrictions on low-skilled migrants but we’re confident that what’s emerged will be OK for the economy, and key government priorities that rely on labour like housing and social care will be protected.”

The source said the disagreement was brief and there was not a “showdown”.

The latest official papers on the issues facing businesses in a no-deal scenario admitted that flights could be grounded and ports gridlocked.

Last week’s rejection by EU leaders of Mrs May’s Chequers plan has emboldened Tory opponents. Senior Conservative Brexiteers lined up yesterday to back an alternative plan based on a Canada-style deal.

The report, by the Institute of Economic Affairs, a free-market think tank, says Britain should drop EU food safety regulations to prioritise a trade deal with the US.

It also calls on the government to cut corporation tax and reduce EU workers’ rights legislation, which it claims discour­ages companies from hiring.

The Times