 |
| Cabinet members arrive (at some speed) at the Chequers front gate |
T |
| Olly Robbins Europe Adviser to the Prime Minister |
- Demand mutual recognition of standards for goods traded between the UK and the EU
- Make a public commitment that British standards will remain as high as those of the EU
- Pledge to keep rules and regulations “substantially similar”
- Insist upon the creation of a dispute mechanism to oversee areas where the UK wants to diverge from EU regulations — and that the European Court of Justice would have no role in it
To which I can only say, Is that it? Isn't that just a restatement of the three baskets idea which the EU side has rejected as cherry picking? A narrative description of this "ambitious managed divergence" is more telling: "We are going to be associate members of
various agencies on things like aviation, chemicals and pharmaceuticals
and then we get [EU] market access and don’t need to have our products
checked in more than one jurisdiction. We can decide at any time, in the
full knowledge that there are consequences, that we don’t want to be
regulated in this way" which seems just a little naive and/or presumptuous.
One particular disagreement Shipman mentions was between Greg Clark, the business secretary, and Boris Johnson, still astonishingly our foreign secretary. Clark "gave a presentation on the consequences of divergence for the car industry" and Johnson stressed that "divergence was essential to ensure innovation".
I'd normally refer to Nissan on the subject of Brexit and the automotive industry, but let's talk Honda for a change. Patrick Keating, Government Affairs Manager for Honda Motor Europe, told the Commons business select committee last November that the company "would need clarity" by March this year on "what happens to the customs border". It would be "a year-long process between deciding we need to invest in additional warehousing and going through zoning, planning and investment" plus "internal decision-making procedures and the need to get clearance from Japan".
In addition, Honda is concerned about "regulation, and particularly type approvals". Talking to the EU Commission, said Mr Keating "there is a real risk that, as the UK leaves the single market, the type approvals issued by the... UK Vehicle Certification Agency, will either no longer hold validity or not be able to be extended". As we've heard recently this is a real problem - at Brexit "the United Kingdom approval authority [VCA] will cease to be an EU type-approval authority".
The Japanese ambassador to the UK accompanied a party of Japanese businessmen to No 10 on 8 February and was "unusually candid" afterwards in the view of several commentators: "If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the UK - not Japanese only - then no private company can continue operations. It is as simple as that. This is all high stakes that all of us, I think, need to keep in mind." Days later, Honda's management in Swindon stressed that the company "remains committed to our operations in the UK and Europe" and declared "we are working closely with the government to ensure the best conditions for our business following the UK’s exit from the European Union".
Honda don't want to have to build new warehousing or relocate their type approval people, and neither do they want to move production, not least because they have no similar plant elsewhere in the EU. Any of these things would cost money that's not in their current plans. They will be making full use of their contacts in London and Brussels to get some of that precious clarity by the end of next month - the EU Council meeting on 22-23 March might be the target date.
That kind of mundane stuff was no doubt part of Greg Clark's presentation, but Johnson countered with his characteristic bluntness. As Shipman puts it, "Johnson interrupted to say divergence was essential to ensure innovation. He cited the way EU rules had stopped him changing the design of lorries in London while he was mayor to make conditions safer for cyclists".
It's one of his favourite moans about EU regulation, but it has the disadvantage of being untrue. Johnson wants changes like wrap-round windows and mirrors to eliminate blind spots which have killed cyclists and the new features are likely to be with us soon. As Euractiv reported in 2014, member states held out against a series of changes to lorry design standards under pressure from their own manufacturers (and the Financial Times suggests the UK was one of them). It takes a long time to redesign a lorry, or a new set of standards, so there's constant to-ing and fro-ing between manufacturers, politicians and regulators. In the end the delay was reduced and“We did manage to force EU governments to agree to the introduction of a new and safer lorry-cab design, although only as of 2019,” said Keith Taylor, transport spokesman for the Greens in the European Parliament.
Political nitty-gritty too intruded into Chequers' panelled rooms, with chief whip Julian Smith warning of the "real, real danger" of Tory rebels voting with Labour to keep Britain in the customs union while David Davis pointed to hardliners threatening to force a leadership election if May drops her opposition to a customs union. Rees-Mogg's position at the head of the European Research Group "is a sign that they are militarising and have tanks on our lawn," said one of Shipman's sources.
One particular disagreement Shipman mentions was between Greg Clark, the business secretary, and Boris Johnson, still astonishingly our foreign secretary. Clark "gave a presentation on the consequences of divergence for the car industry" and Johnson stressed that "divergence was essential to ensure innovation".
 |
| Honda's plant in Swindon |
In addition, Honda is concerned about "regulation, and particularly type approvals". Talking to the EU Commission, said Mr Keating "there is a real risk that, as the UK leaves the single market, the type approvals issued by the... UK Vehicle Certification Agency, will either no longer hold validity or not be able to be extended". As we've heard recently this is a real problem - at Brexit "the United Kingdom approval authority [VCA] will cease to be an EU type-approval authority".
The Japanese ambassador to the UK accompanied a party of Japanese businessmen to No 10 on 8 February and was "unusually candid" afterwards in the view of several commentators: "If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the UK - not Japanese only - then no private company can continue operations. It is as simple as that. This is all high stakes that all of us, I think, need to keep in mind." Days later, Honda's management in Swindon stressed that the company "remains committed to our operations in the UK and Europe" and declared "we are working closely with the government to ensure the best conditions for our business following the UK’s exit from the European Union".
 |
| Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy |
That kind of mundane stuff was no doubt part of Greg Clark's presentation, but Johnson countered with his characteristic bluntness. As Shipman puts it, "Johnson interrupted to say divergence was essential to ensure innovation. He cited the way EU rules had stopped him changing the design of lorries in London while he was mayor to make conditions safer for cyclists".
It's one of his favourite moans about EU regulation, but it has the disadvantage of being untrue. Johnson wants changes like wrap-round windows and mirrors to eliminate blind spots which have killed cyclists and the new features are likely to be with us soon. As Euractiv reported in 2014, member states held out against a series of changes to lorry design standards under pressure from their own manufacturers (and the Financial Times suggests the UK was one of them). It takes a long time to redesign a lorry, or a new set of standards, so there's constant to-ing and fro-ing between manufacturers, politicians and regulators. In the end the delay was reduced and“We did manage to force EU governments to agree to the introduction of a new and safer lorry-cab design, although only as of 2019,” said Keith Taylor, transport spokesman for the Greens in the European Parliament.
Political nitty-gritty too intruded into Chequers' panelled rooms, with chief whip Julian Smith warning of the "real, real danger" of Tory rebels voting with Labour to keep Britain in the customs union while David Davis pointed to hardliners threatening to force a leadership election if May drops her opposition to a customs union. Rees-Mogg's position at the head of the European Research Group "is a sign that they are militarising and have tanks on our lawn," said one of Shipman's sources.
 |
| Karen Bradley |
Some Eurosceptics outside the cabinet put little faith in May and her team holding their fragile truce together in the face of "intransigence" in Brussels. "Cabinet continues to live in a parallel universe," one is reported to have said. "The DD-May plan is doomed. Barnier will smash DD [David Davis] over the head and No 10 will fold as always." And remember, even after May's next speech, scheduled for Friday 1 May, the full cabinet will never have discussed and approved the approach. They will simply be expected to go along with it.
