LONDON �� U.K. Trade Secretary Liam Fox dismissed claims that government ministers have agreed to allow the free movement of people for as long as three years after leaving the European Union, exposing more divisions rifts in the nation's Brexit strategy.
Continuing free movement after 2019 would "not keep faith" with voters' decision to leave the EU, he said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper. "I have not been involved in any discussion on that," he said.
Fox's comments add weight to concern about the inconsistencies among senior government figures in the Brexit process. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said Friday that ministers had a consensus that even if the U.K. departs the EU in March 2019, nothing should change the next day. Instead, the Cabinet wants the status quo for two or three years.
Any transitional arrangement "has to be an agreement by the Cabinet," Fox said. "It can't just be made by an individual or any group within the Cabinet."
Hammond's plan also came under fire from Gerard Lyons, a pro-Brexit economist who was an adviser to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson when he was London mayor.
The transition phase should not exceed two years, Lyons wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Accusing Hammond of taking advantage of Prime Minister Theresa May's absence for a vacation to publicize his own views, he compared "alarmist talk" about Brexit to fears before the turn of the 20th century that a "Millennium Bug" would cause computers to stop operating.
"Many of the 'risks' being highlighted about Brexit are perceived risks, not real risks," Lyons wrote. "And a two-year transition would alleviate many concerns."
