Pro-Brexit Conservative MPs have urged Boris Johnson to ditch the EU withdrawal agreement should no trade deal be reached, claiming they were promised he would do so before they passed the bill in January.
Bernard Jenkin, who chairs the steering group of the European Research Group of hard-Brexit Tory MPs, said Brexit would not be done until the UK government had asserted its own interpretation of the withdrawal agreement.
Writing in the Diplomat magazine, Jenkin said the group of MPs who destroyed Theresa May’s deal had only voted in favour of Johnson’s because they had been assured the government would ditch the agreement if no trade deal was reached with the European Union.
“We only have a WA [withdrawal agreement] because Eurosceptic Conservatives, such as myself, voted for it to help the nation out of a paralysing political crisis,” Jenkin wrote. “To his credit, the prime minister had ameliorated Mrs May’s agreement.
“We made clear, however, that this agreement was barely ‘tolerable’ and only voted for it against assurances given by government: that it was just a starting point for negotiations; that it would be superseded by a full FTA [free trade agreement]; and, if needs be, could be repudiated.”
Speaking on Tuesday as the latest round of UK-EU talks began, Jenkin said pro-Brexit Conservatives would demand Johnson renege from that legally binding agreement if no deal is reached within five weeks.
“If we don’t reach a deal with the EU, Brexit is not done until the UK government succeeds in its determination to assert its own interpretation of the withdrawal agreement,” the Harwich and North Essex MP said.
“If the EU is unwilling to do a deal with us, there are two options. The first is to enact domestic legislation that will largely nullify the direct effect and direct applicability of EU law. We have the mandate and majority to do this.
“Second, if the EU insists on an unreasonable interpretation of the withdrawal agreement, the UK must stand ready to repudiate it. I hope it is not necessary, but if it is the only way to achieve UK prosperity and the kind of sovereign independence which is the democratic right of any nation recognised under the UN charter, then so be it. And most other nations would respect us for that.”
On Monday, it emerged the government was planning to table proposals on Wednesday to give ministers unilateral legal powers to oversee elements of the Northern Ireland protocol, a disclosure which provoked widespread disquiet because the agreement is already legally binding, but which has been backed by Brexiter MPs.
A Downing Street spokesman said they “remain committed to the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol” regardless of whether a deal was reached.
“The withdrawal agreement was written on the basis that subsequent agreements could be reached between us and the EU on the detail through this joint committee process,” the spokesman said.
“That may be possible but as responsible government, we can’t allow damaging default positions to kick in if we can’t agree these as part of the joint committee process.”
