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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Barnier rejects customs plan set out in May's Brexit white paper – as it happened

Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier hold a press conference.

Barnier/Raab press conference - Summary

Here is the text of Michel Barnier’s opening statement. And here is the text of Dominic Raab’s.

And here are the main points.

  • Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiatior, rejected the customs proposals in the British government’s Brexit white paper. The government’s plan envisages the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU as part of what it calls a “facilitated customs arrangement”. But Barnier said:

Maintaining control of our money, law, and borders also applies to the EU’s customs policy.

The EU cannot - and the EU will not - delegate the application of its customs policy and rules, VAT and excise duty collections to a non-member who would not be subject to the EU’s governance structures.

This goes significantly further than what Barnier said at a press conference at the end of last week when he raised concerns on this issue, but did not explicitly reject what the UK was offering. On Friday last week he said:

This complex customs system also poses a more fundamental question: How can the Union delegate the application of its customs rules to a non-member of the EU, who would not be subject to governance structures? Would that be acceptable or, simply, legally possible?

  • Barnier said today that the EU was “open to a customs union” with the UK after Brexit.
  • He said the EU considered the British agreement to pay £39bn as an “exit bill” was settled and not something that could be renegotiated. Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, said the UK wanted to ensure this payment was conditional on the EU progressing with a trade deal after March next year and he implied that Barnier had accepted this. Raab said:

We have been clear, as the EU is, that there is no deal until we do the whole deal. The various different aspects - the withdrawal agreement, the protocol [on the Irish border] and the political declaration [on future relations] - come as a package as a whole.

We had a good and constructive conversation today about how we make sure in practice that there is that link between those two key areas, the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on the future framework.

But Barnier gave a different emphasis when he replied to the question about this. He said:

It is quite right that there is agreement on nothing until we have agreement on everything. But what is perfectly clear to the 27 EU member states and the European Parliament is that what has been agreed in December and March has been agreed for good.

  • Barnier said the UK and the EU had made good progress towards a deal on security after Brexit. He described this as “a real step forward”. (At the time it sounded as if he was saying “rare” step forward, but the text says “real”.) He said:

This week confirmed that the UK proposals on security mark a real step forward. The UK has provided new guarantees for the protection of fundamental rights and the uniform application of law and the white paper commits the UK to membership of the European convention on human rights. It recognises the European court of justice as the only arbiter of EU law. These are important safeguards. They enlarge the possibilities of what we can do together on internal security, in particular on data exchange.

Based on the protection of personal data, and based on reciprocity, the EU and the UK can explore the modalities for close cooperation on the following points: the exchange of DNA, fingerprints, and vehicle registration information (so called “Prüm”); the exchange of passenger name records to better track and identify individuals involved in terrorism and crime; swift and effective extradition, based on the procedural rights for suspects.

  • Barnier said that, although some aspects of the government’s white paper were “useful”, other aspects were problematic because they threatened the integrity of the single market. He said:

There are other points on which we have a problem because they contradict, they clash with, the European Council guidelines. They contradict my clear negotiating guidelines. Indivisibility of the four freedoms, the integrity of the single market, these are key points. This is our main asset. We are not going to negotiate on that. The United Kingdom has know that from the outset.

  • Raab said he and Barnier would meet again in mid August, and then hold weekly meetings with a view to reaching an agreement by October.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Barnier rejects customs proposals in PM's Chequers plan - but says EU open to a 'customs union'

Here is the key quote from Michel Barnier on the customs aspect of the Chequers Brexit plan - the “facilitated customs arrangement”, as the UK government calls it, that would involve the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU.

Here is some reaction to the press conference from journalists and commentators.

From the BBC’s Andrew Neil

From ITV’s Libby Wiener

From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth

This is what the European commission is tweeting about the Barnier statement from its Twitter feed.

And this is from Barnier’s press officer.

Q: Can the rest of the Conservative party accept the Chequers plan? And why not put this again to the British people for a second referendum?

Raab says a second referendum is not acceptable. All parties said they would accept the referendum result.

He says the UK plan would respect the autonomy of both sides, but maintain a close relationship.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

I will post reaction and a summary soon.

Q: Would it be helpful for you to have EU heads of government intervening? Is there a point where they need to negotiate?

Barnier says Raab needs his leader to push ahead. But he says he also works for leaders.

He says he constantly reports back to EU member states. He works on their behalf. Anyone who wants to find a “sliver of difference” between what he is saying and what his mandate says is “wasting their time”.

Q: The Chequers plan led to two cabinet minsters resigning. Your mandate says, if the UK’s government evolves, you will reconsider your offer. Do you see the Chequers plan as an evolution of the UK’s position?

Barnier says he will not comment on the domestic debate in the UK. He says he negotiates with Theresa May, with Dominic Raab, and their teams. They are extremely competent and professional.

He says he has been asking the UK to say what it wants. He welcomes the discussion in Chequers and the white paper. He has studied it carefully. He says he has set out some “positive points” in it. It can be “useful”, he says.

He says the UK and the EU both want a free trade deal.

And there are lots of points where they can find common ground.

But there are other points where the EU has “a problem”, because the UK’s plans contradict his negotiating mandate. The EU is not going to compromise on the indivisibility of the four freedoms, he says. It has always said that.

The EU intends to defend the single market in all its aspects.

Q: From what Barnier is saying, the Chequers plan has failed. Where does that leave you?

Raab says he and Barnier have had a good meeting. Some 80% of the withdrawal agreement has been decided, he says. He says there is determination to settle the backstop issue. And he thinks with energy and pragmatism, they can get a deal in October.

Barnier says Brexit created the Irish border problem. It puts the Good Friday agreement at risk, he says.

There has to be a backstop. Whether it is the EU’s backstop or the UK’s, we can discuss that. But he says he wants to “de-dramatise” this issue.

They need to go through the list of border controls, one by one, and see what can be done about them.

Raab/Barnier Q&A

Q: Must the payment of the UK’s “Brexit bill” be conditional on a future trade deal?

Raab says the UK has always been clear that there is no deal until the whole deal is finalised. He says he had a good, constructive conversation with Barnier today on how to link those two issues.

Barnier says Raab is right to say nothing is agreed until everything has been agreed. But the EU’s view is that what was agreed in December and March is agreed for good.

  • Barnier says it considers UK’s £39bn ‘divorce bill’ to be settled, not up for further negotiation.

We must avoid any misunderstanding, he says.

He says the UK has decided to leave the EU, with its single market and four freedoms.

He says there might be a customs arrangement, a customs union or something else.

He says the EU’s approach is not ideological.

The EU has created an ecosystem of common laws, he says. The UK is leaving the single, legal jurisdiction.

He says there is no way in which the EU can allow the single market to be undermined.

In the medium to long term it would not be in the UK’s interests for the single market to be destabilised.

Here is some comment on the press conference so far.

From the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford

From the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge

From the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner

Raab summarises what is proposed in the Chequers plan.

He says the white paper has brought a “new dynamic” to talks about the future trade relationship.

Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, is speaking now.

He says a lot has been achieved to date, especially on the rights of citizens.

He says they are stepping up efforts on how to preserve the Belfast agreement.

Now they have three tasks.

First, they must complete the withdrawal agreement. He says they have moved “closer” to agreement on the remaining areas, including governance and administrative procedures.

Second, they must find a solution to the Irish issue. He says the UK government has a backstop plan. They have been discussing this. More work needs to be done, but he says he is “confident” he can work this up into a workable solution. He says it would have to be time-limited.

  • Raab says he is confident UK and EU can reach agreement on the Irish backstop.

Third, they need to reach an agreement on the future relationship. He says they would have to agree a timescale for firming this up after Brexit.

Barnier says he has been focusing on withdrawal issues.

A large part of the agreement, 80%, has already been agreed, including citizens’ rights.

Barnier says this week talks focused on the UK element of the backstop.

The EU has no objection to this in principle, he says.

But he says the EU “doubts” it can be done without putting at risk its commercial policy and its tariff system.

He says the UK team has agreed to consider these objections. They will meet again in mid-August.

Barnier is now talking about the backstop.

Continued uncertainty would be unacceptable, he says. He says the backstop must provide a guarantee.

On customs Barnier says the EU cannot and will not delegate responsibility for its customs policy, VAT and tariffs to a non-member.

He says any customs union would have to respect this principle.

A customs union would involve accepting the common commercial policy for goods, he says.

Any customs arrangements will have to be workable and protect EU and national revenue without introducing extra costs.

This is the framework within with the EU will work with the UK.

  • Barnier appears to reject the customs plans set out in the British government’s white paper.

Barnier says the future economic relationship is more difficult.

Both sides want a free trade deal, he says.

He says the UK wants to keep control of its money, law and borders. The EU will respect that, he says.

But he says the EU also wants to keep control of its money, law and borders.

He says, in financial services, market access will be determined by autonomous decisions on both sides.

Countries will be free to make decisions on access, and withdraw them too, he says.

Barnier says UK and EU moving closer to an agreement on a post-Brexit security deal

Barnier starts by addressing the future relationship.

He says the white paper was a “step forward”.

(It sounded like he was saying a “rare” step forward, but it is hard to be sure, because of his accent.)

He says the UK’s decision to accept EU rulings means they can agree some important aspects of the security relationship.

  • Barnier says UK and EU moving closer to an agreement on a post-Brexit security deal.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, starts.

He says he and Dominic Raab have had their second constructive meeting.

He says he agrees with Raab about the need to bring more energy to the process.

They both want a deal by October, he says.

He says there are two main challenges: the withdrawal agreement, with a “legally operative backstop”; and the future relationship.

The press conference is starting now.

Dominic Raab's press conference with Michel Barnier

Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, is due to hold a press conference with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels at 4.30pm.

There is a live feed here.

Labour should adopt IHRA definition and examples of antisemitism in full, says Barry Gardiner

Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, has joined his fellow shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth in saying Labour should fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and all the examples it gives. Gardiner told the Jewish News:

My view is that it would have been better for the party to adopt the IHRA definition in full with all the examples and then to add all the clauses necessary to make it enforceable rather than to appear to cavil and weaken the definition.

As the Press Association reports, Gardiner said there were concerns that the IHRA definition was not strong enough on its own to defeat any court challenge against an expulsion. But he said he hoped the party would adopt it in full, while adding clauses to “enable us to successfully resist any legal challenge by anti-Semitic racists who fight to remain in the party”.

Labour has accepted the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its new code of conduct includes some, but not all, of the IHRA examples verbatim. Labour says the other examples are full covered elsewhere in the code and that overall the code is tougher than the IHRA version. But its refusal to accept the IHRA wording wholesale has been widely criticised.

Barry Gardiner
Barry Gardiner Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Doctors in the UK can prescribe cannabis-derived medicine after the government announced a relaxation of laws governing access to the substance, my colleague Jamie Grierson reports.

In her Today interview this morning Nathalie Loiseau, the French Europe minister, said the UK could remain in the EU, and in the interview she seemed to be saying it could stay in on the same terms as now. (See 9.10am.) But a reader points out that she might have meant “on the same terms as other members of the EU”. See here for a more detailed explanation. I have amended the headline to take into account this ambiguity.

Here are some more pictures of Theresa May at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.

Theresa May with a shire horse named Tumble, who won first prize in its category, during a visit to the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show
Theresa May with a shire horse named Tumble, who won first prize in its category, during a visit to the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA
Theresa May with Anest Jones, 6, from the Brecon Beacons.
Theresa May with Anest Jones, 6, from the Brecon Beacons. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA
Theresa May looks at livestock at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.
Theresa May looks at livestock at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA

Lunchtime summary

  • Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, has arrived in Brussels for talks with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. They are due to hold a press conference at 4.30pm. This is from the BBC’s Adam Fleming.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Raab says that with “ambition, hard work and energy” the government will be able to strike the right deal for the UK.

  • The French Europe minister, Nathalie Loiseau, has said that it is not too late for the UK to change its mind and stay in the EU. (See 9.10am.)

Updated

And since we’re on the subject of a second referendum, here is Anand Menon, director of the academic project The UK in a Changing Europe, explaining why he thinks it would be a terrible idea.

And here’s an extract.

A narrow victory for remain – the outcome which, let’s face it, most proponents of a second referendum desire – would solve none of the underlying problems that led to the Brexit vote in the first place. Rather, it would provide grist to the mill to opponents of the EU, and the establishment would be portrayed as having betrayed leave voters.

A semi-competent Ukip (far from guaranteed, admittedly) or even a new successor party would make hay in the 2019 European parliament elections. The Tories would remain as divided – probably even more so – as they were when David Cameron caved to pressure from Brexiters on his own benches and called the referendum in the first place. And leavers would continue to believe that warnings of dire consequences should we leave the EU were simply fictions. The divide in values in British society that burst into the open following the 2016 vote would remain entrenched, reinforcing the problems already faced by our party system in attempting to contain it.

A ‘removal van’ parked outside Boris Johnson’s residence by protesters.
A ‘removal van’ parked outside Boris Johnson’s residence by protesters. Photograph: Jacob Hutchins/REX/Shutterstock

Anti-Brexit campaigners demanding that Boris Johnson leave the “grace and favour lad pad” he is still living in almost three weeks after resigning as foreign secretary have offered him a helping hand. As the Press Association reports, a handful of protesters parked a van with the slogan “Leave Means Leave Removals Ltd” outside the foreign secretary’s official residence at Carlton Gardens, central London, which Johnson has yet to move out of.

Campaigners from For our Future’s Sake (FFS) and Our Future our Choice dressed up in overalls and brought cardboard boxes to the gates of the residence this morning. They rang the bell and asked if they could speak to Johnson but he did not materialise.

Richard Brooks, co-founder of FFS said:

In typical Boris Johnson fashion, he wants to have his cake and eat it. We at FFS know how important leaving is to Boris so we’re here today to help him move out. We’ve got the van, the boxes, the bubble wrap and though we’re not quite the professional photographers he’s used to, we’ve got decent camera phones.

FFS and Our Future our Choice are campaigning for a second referendum on Brexit.

Johnson is expected to move out of Carlton Gardens by the end of the month. The Foreign Office said that ministers normally leave the official residence as soon as is practical after leaving office and that there was no extra cost to the taxpayer from Johnson staying on for a few weeks.

Anti-Brexit campaigners dressed up in removal overalls protest outside Carlton Gardens
Anti-Brexit campaigners dressed up in removal overalls protest outside Carlton Gardens Photograph: Catherine Wylie/PA

Theresa May told farmers at the Royal Welsh Show that Brexit offers agriculture a “real opportunity for the future”. As the Press Association reports, she made the comments as she met key industry stakeholders at the event, Europe’s largest summertime agricultural show. She said:

It seems to me that what we have when we come out of the common agricultural policy is an opportunity to determine what is going to be right for the United Kingdom, rather than being part of policy developed for a number of countries within the EU. So that gives us a real opportunity, I think, for the future and to be able to set this industry on a really bright prospect for the future.

She also said that leaving the CAP would allow the government to replace it with a simpler system of support for farmers. She said:

Scrapping the common agricultural policy, and introducing a simpler system which provides funds in return for public goods, like improving water quality, reducing emissions and planting wild flower meadows to boost biodiversity, is fundamental to our new approach.

I want to make the most of the freedoms provided by Brexit to design a new scheme that is less bureaucratic, and does away with the overly prescriptive information farmers currently have to provide to apply for grants.

Theresa May visits the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Wales,
Theresa May visits the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Wales, Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Voting opens in election for nine seats on Labour's NEC

An important internal Labour election opens today. Nine seats for constituency representatives on Labour’s national executive committee are up for grabs and more than half a million members will get a vote.

Candidates backed by Momentum, the pro-Corbyn organisation, won the last big set of NEC elections two years ago, and they gained all available seats again in another more recent election when three extra NEC seats were created. Anything other than a clean sweep in this election would be seen as a setback for the Corbynites.

The nine names on the Momentum slate are here. Here is their leaflet (pdf). And here is a video Momentum has posted on Twitter to make its case.

Here is the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush on the Momentum message.

There is an alternative slate of nine candidates backed by centrists in the party. They have the support of Progress and Labour First. They are all named here. Among other things, they are campaigning for party members to have a say on Brexit and for the party to adopt the full version of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Describing these candidates as “centre-left”, the Progress director Richard Angell said in a message to Labour members:

These NEC elections really make a difference. Whether it is the NEC’s appalling decision on antisemitism, the continuing denial of party members to have a say on Brexit and the total London-centric way the NEC works, who represents party members at the top of the party matters. Voting for the same candidate means you get there same outcomes – denegrating Labour proud anti-racism credentials, support for a Tory hard Brexit and no real say for members outside London. The centre-left is standing the most diverse slate every stood for the NEC – they deserve your consideration and support.

UPDATE: A reader says, rightly, I should have mentioned Ann Black as a candidate too. She is a longstanding member of the NEC, who is firmly on the left of the party but independent of Momentum. This led to her being voted out as chair of the disputes panel in January when the Corbynites achieved a clear majority on the NEC.

Updated

Families on average spent more in 2017 than they received for first time in almost 30 years, says ONS

The Office for National Statistics has published a report today saying that in 2017, for the first time in almost 30 years, UK households on average were spending more than they were bringing in. It says:

On average, each UK household spent or invested around £900 more than they received in income in 2017; amounting to almost £25 billion (or about one-fifth of the annual NHS budget in England).

Households’ outgoings last outstripped their income for a whole year in 1988, although the shortfall was much smaller at just £0.3 billion.

Even in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 – when 100% (and more) mortgages were offered to home buyers without a deposit – the country did not reach a point where the average household was a net borrower.

Here is a chart illustrating the trend.

Net lending or borrowing by households 1987 to 2017
Net lending or borrowing by households 1987 to 2017 Photograph: ONS

The report also says that short-term borrowing has surpassed its pre-crisis levels. This chart, which shows consumer credit (through credit cards, car finance plans and payday loans), shows the trend.

Borrowing figures
Borrowing figures Photograph: ONS

Commenting on these findings John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said:

In the same week that the Tory government delivered a slap in the face to workers over public sector pay, the ONS findings show the disastrous impact of eight years of austerity on the living standards of families.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, we see average household outgoings surpassing incomes.

The ONS findings are a stark example of how brutal Tory pay restraint and austerity has led to living costs outstripping earnings for families.

John McDonnell
John McDonnell Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/REX/Shutterstock

Request to readers: I monitor the comments here quite regularly, and so I have a reasonably good idea as to what readers think about the way this blog gets written and what it covers, but around this time of year I find it helpful to ask for some feedback formally. What do you like about the blog? And what don’t you like about it? What should we do more of? And what should we do less of?

Please post some answers, or just say what you think generally, BTL (below the line). The formula here has not changed dramatically over the years, but it does evolve and it would be useful to get your thoughts as I mull things over during the summer. I won’t be able to reply to all the comments, but they will get read. Thank you in advance.

In his Spectator diary Boris Johnson also renews his attack on Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan that led to him resigning as foreign secretary. He says:

Imagine you leave some stifling desk job and decide to get out into the big wide world — make new contacts in America, that kind of thing. How would you feel if your former company still treated you like an employee? What would you do if you had to obey all the organisation’s rules, and do exactly what they told you? What if you got regular emails saying do this, do that, make me a cup of coffee, your skirt’s too short, please cough up for the company car park — even when you had left? You’d go nuts. You can’t leave an organisation and still be bound by its rules. But that is what the Chequers white paper means. It is vassalage, satrapy, colony status for the UK. For the first time in a thousand years our laws will be made overseas, enforced by a foreign court. It can’t and won’t work. Chuck Chequers.

You can see Johnson’s argument, but it is not a great analogy. If you have got a boring desk job and you fancy a bit of travel, you will find it much easier going to the EU, where freedom of movement means you can just turn up, than trying to get a green card for America.

Also, Johnson seems to be ignoring the fact that, even if you do land that exciting new job in America, their companies have got rules and car park charges too.

Updated

Boris Johnson says drone strikes are ordered for retribution, not just for self-defence

Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, has written the diary in this week’s Spectator. The first item (the diary comprises several self-contained entries, a mix of serious and light) is about the decision to accept the death penalty as an option for the jihadists facing trial in the US. As Downing Street said on Monday, that decision was jointly taken by Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and Johnson when he was foreign secretary.

Johnson defends the decision, of course. But, interestingly, he does so by likening it to authorising a drone strike and by arguing that drone strikes are in part “retributive”.

This is significant because the British government justifies drone strikes, such as the one ordered by David Cameron in 2015 that killed two British citizens in Syria, on the grounds of self defence - that they are necessary to counter an imminent threat. Retribution is not a legal basis for extra-judicial killing, and Johnson’s argument implies that the legal justification for such attacks may be spurious.

Here is the key quote:

Surely there is a bit of humbug in this outrage about the two remaining jihadi Beatles, Kotey and Elsheikh, and Sajid Javid’s difficult but correct decision to send them for trial in America. Suppose the grisly pair had been located a couple of years ago in Raqqa. And let’s suppose there was a Reaper drone overhead, and that British intelligence could help send a missile neatly through their windscreen. Would we provide the details — knowing that they would be killed without a chance for their lawyers to offer pleas in mitigation on account of their tough childhoods in west London? Would the British state, in these circumstances, have connived in straightforward extrajudicial killing? Too damn right we would. It was just such a drone strike that vaporised that other ‘Beatle’, Jihadi John, and I don’t remember hot tears being wept for him. These four ‘Beatles’ were responsible for killing at least 27 people, and there are credible accounts of other bestial behaviour. Of course we legally justify these drone strike assassinations as preventative: to stop future acts of terror in Syria. But that scarcely masks the reality that killing them is also retributive — payback for the filmed executions of innocent people. So why do we support these extra-judicial killings, with no due process, and panic at what might happen in American court?

Johnson also says that he and Javid had to balance the “small risk” that Kotey and Elsheikh might be executed in the US against the risk that, without an American prosecution, they would be let free. “Sajid Javid and I decided that the first risk was worse than the second,” he writes. “Who really believes we were wrong?”

At the time of the 2015 drone attack Johnson was mayor of London, not in government, and not part of the government decision-making process, and so anyone hoping that this Spectator column could put Cameron in the dock at The Hague will be disappointed.

But if Johnson himself ever became prime minister, and ever had to order an attack himself, then presumably human rights lawyers would be digging this out very quickly.

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Updated

Barnier does represent views of EU member states, says French Europe minister

And here are some more lines from the Today programme interview with Nathalie Loiseau, the French Europe minister. (See 9.10am.)

  • Loiseau said that the EU, like the UK, also took the view that a no deal Brexit would be better than agreeing to a bad deal. She said the EU wanted a deal, but was preparing for the UK leaving without one because there has been “no significant progress” in negotiating the withdrawal agreement. She said:

I do remember Prime Minister May saying that no-deal was better than a bad deal. It’s among the bad solutions but I should say that no-deal is not as bad as a bad deal for the European Union as well.

We would all suffer, the worst would be for the United Kingdom but we get prepared for a no-deal because until now we have seen no significant progress regarding the withdrawal agreement which would relieve us from this concern that there could be a no-deal [exit].

  • She played down the prospect of the article 50 process being extended, delaying Brexit beyond the agreed date, 29 March 2019. She said the UK has not proposed this. And she stressed the disadvantages.

It would have a lot of consequences. It would mean that the UK, if we had to postpone the withdrawal, would remain [in the EU] for a longer period, it would pay for being a member of the European Union, it would participate in the European elections next year, so that would be a brand new situation.

  • She said a no deal Brexit would cause delays at ports. Asked what it would mean for Calais, she said:

On the day of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union with no deal, we should start with new tariffs [and] controls and that means, of course, traffic jams in Calais and in each and every European port welcoming goods and people coming from the United Kingdom.

  • She insisted that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, was representing the views of EU member states. She said:

There should be no mistake. Michel Barnier does not represent only the commission. He is the negotiator for the European Union. He gets his mandate and his guidelines from the heads of state and government. And we have discussed it regularly at the level of ministers. We meet with Michel Barnier on a regular basis. So do the heads of state and government. So there is no difference between what Michel Barnier says and what we would say individually, each and every member state.

This is significant because some in the British government seem to think that, if the UK appeals over the head of Barnier to EU leaders directly, it will get a more sympathetic hearing. The Times has a story (paywall) today reflecting this, saying Theresa May will get a chance to lobby EU leaders directly at a summit in Salzburg in September. Here is an extract:

Until now EU leaders have insisted that all Brexit negotiations have to be conducted through Mr Barnier. But diplomatic sources said the German chancellor had expressed concerns that the talks were going nowhere. “There is a sense of drift,” said a source. “It is time for leaders to have a serious discussion in the European Council.”

Another added: “There is potential to have talks between all 28 EU leaders.”

Privately, the commission has already rejected Mrs May’s white paper plans for Britain in effect to remain inside the single market for goods. It said there “cannot be give and take” on the EU’s four freedoms — the movement of goods, capital, services and labour. The proposals for a facilitated customs arrangement where Britain collected tariffs on behalf of Brussels were dismissed as unworkable.

They fear that unless EU leaders intervene directly the commission will kill off the proposals, isolating Mrs May and raising the chance of no deal. Some fear that this could come as early as this week.

Not too late for UK to change its mind and stay in EU, says French minister

Whilst most of us are looking forward to our summer holiday, the People’s Vote campaign is promising to “turn up the volume” over the next few weeks as it intensifies its call for another referendum on Brexit. There are multiple obstacles in the way, and another poll still seems unlikely, but this morning there was a shaft of good news for the campaign on the Today programme. One unresolved question has always been, if the UK changed its mind and voted to stay in, would the EU agree? According to the French Europe minister, the answer is yes.

Asked if staying in was still an option for the UK, Nathalie Loiseau told the programme:

We have always said, always, that the door would remain open and that we were not the ones who wanted to diverge from the United Kingdom. It was the British people who decided to leave the European Union.

And when asked if that meant the UK would be able to stay in, “on the same terms”, she replied:

Sure, of course. [Like] every single member state of the European Union, we have one conviction, which is that the best possible status is being a member, the most profitable status.

UPDATE: Loiseau said the UK could remain in the EU, and in the interview she seemed to be saying it could stay in on the same terms as now, but a reader points out that she might have meant “on the same terms as other members of the EU”. See here for a more detailed explanation. I have amended the headline to take into account this ambiguity. UPDATE ENDS

There were other good lines in the interview. I will post more on it shortly.

We should get more Brexit today because Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, is in Brussels for more talks with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. The two men are expected to hold a press conference late in the afternoon, but details have not been confirmed. And Theresa May is attending the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.

As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at the end of the day.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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