"Many Photos" - Liam Fox sabotages Labour talks with letter blasting a customs union as the 'worst of both worlds'

A senior Cabinet minister has warned Theresa May that any plan to offer a customs union with the EU as a way to break the Brexit deadlock would be the 'worst of both worlds'.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox - whose role would be largely redundant if the UK stayed closely aligned to Brussels - hit out in a letter to senior backbench Tories.

Dr Fox, a Brexiteer who has faithfully backed the Prime Minister's ill-faited Brexit deal, laid out his opposition in a brutally blunt letter revealed by the Daily Telegraph. 

His vocal opposition came as Mrs May left for high levels talks with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in Paris and Berlin today, while senior ministers and their opposition counterparts sit down for talks in London to find a compromise.

Mrs May's reported offer to let MPs vote on holding a second referendum has infuriated MPs already raging over the fact that she is talking to the opposition at all, according to the Daily Telegraph. 

Writing to the committee of the 1922 Committee, Dr Fox said: 'We would be stuck in the worst of both worlds, not only unable to set our own international trade policy but subject, without representation, to the policy of an entity over which MPs would have no democratic control.

'This is something that Labour do not presently seem to understand. As I said at the meeting, in such a scenario the UK would have a new role in the global trading system.

'We would ourselves be traded. As the famous saying in Brussels goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.'

In a further escalation of a Brexiteer revolt, Trade Secretary Liam Fox (pictured yesterday in Downing Street) wrote to Tory MPs to insist a permanent customs union with the EU would be the 'worst of both worlds'

What is a customs union and what could happen if we are in one after Brexit?

The customs union has emerged as possibly the last crucial battleground in the political war over Brexit.

The customs arrangements could decide the fate of the overall deal - as the UK has already said it will ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. 

But it has proved a major bone of contention for Brexiteers, with many publicly and privately voicing their fury at it. 

The are furious that adopting one would keep us far too closely aligned with Brussels but without any say over our international trade policy.

What is the EU customs union?

The customs union allows the EU states to exchange goods without tariffs, and impose common tariffs on imports from outside the bloc.  

But they also prevent countries from striking deals outside the union on their own.

Theresa May has repeatedly made clear that the UK will be leaving the customs union, while Labour says it wants to replicate it but without being in it.

How would that work? 

Some MPs and the Labour leadership have raised the idea of creating a new customs union with the EU.

This could be looser than the existing arrangements, but still allow tariff free trade with the bloc. 

Labour's alternative plan also suggested that it would also be possible to be in a customs union and influence EU trade deals.

However this is against EU law and the party  has not explained how this would work.

Many Eurosceptics believe it is impossible to be in a union without hampering the UK's ability to strike trade deals elsewhere.

They also complain that it would mean accepting the EU's 'protectionist' tariffs against other parts of the world in areas like agriculture.

The most high profile of these is International Trade Secretary Liam Fox - whose job would be pointless if we were in a customs union.

The PM has also ruled out this option but there are signs that she is wavering as she seeks a way out of the current Brexit chaos engulfing Westminster.

Hard left Labour leader Mr Corbyn has called on the Government to be more flexible regarding red line issues in the talks. 

But so far he has resisted strong calls from backbenchers and members of his shadow cabinet to demand a second referendum as the price of his support for the Government.

After officials from the two sides met on Monday, the fresh round of talks will include Chancellor Philip Hammond and his opposite number John McDonnell, plus Mrs May's de facto deputy, Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer.

Senior backbench Tories visited Mrs May in Downing Street on Monday and it is understood concern was expressed about the possibility of agreeing to a customs union as a price for a deal with Labour.

And in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph, Tory grandee William Hague said the talks were 'akin to having a dinner date with a crocodile'.

Lord Hague wrote: 'It is difficult in any case to see how carrying through the programme of Brexit procedures and laws could be sustained by an agreement between part of the Conservative Party and the bulk of the Labour Party - the Government would be highly likely to collapse under such a strain.'

It came as an aide to Chancellor Philip Hammond said he is ready to defy the whips by addressing a People's Vote campaign rally.

Huw Merriman said it was 'likely' his appearance at the event in London on Tuesday would cost him his job as an unpaid parliamentary private secretary.

The MP for Bexhill and Battle - who backs Theresa May's Brexit deal - said he wanted to use the event to explain why he supported a confirmatory referendum on the agreement in last week's 'indicative' votes in the Commons.

'It has been made clear to me that is not Government policy. My issue with that is that a week ago we were given free votes and I was allowed to vote for this concept of putting the Prime Minister's deal back to the people to get it through,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

'If I then get sacked for actually explaining the way I voted in a free vote, that to me would be a new low in democracy.

'It would be nonsensical for me to be given a free vote, to be allowed to vote the way I wish to vote, but then to explain it I would lose my position. 

'That's politics of the madhouse and I am just not willing to go along with that.'

The Prime Minister is hoping that her cross-party talks with Labour will convince EU leaders to give her a short extension to Article 50 at a summit in Brussels in Wednesday, before Britain leaves the bloc with No Deal by default on Friday. 

Theresa May left Downing Street this morning to head to Berlin and then Paris for Brexit talks with  Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron

Treasury aide Huw Merriman will speak at a People's Vote event today, saying that if it led to his sacking it would be the 'politics of the madhouse'

Philip May looked pensive as he waved off his wife on her European tour as she tries to delay Brexit yet again

However the discussions with Jeremy Corbyn do not appear to be making any progress and EU leaders are growing tired of repeated extension requests.

They are preparing to impose a long delay to Brexit until around March 2020, are fearful that a new Brexiteer Prime Minister, such as Boris Johnson, could cause havoc within the EU during this time.

To counter this threat, the EU will 'Boris-proof' any Brexit delay and refuse to let the UK have any say in future EU budget talks and trade deals until Britain leaves, it was revealed today.

An EU diplomat told The Times: 'If there is a wild Brexiteer as a new Tory PM, they would be able to do nothing until after March 31, 2020, unless they subscribe to the withdrawal agreement. We will simply not hold talks. If a new British leader refuses these terms it will simply be 'no deal' on the date with plenty of time for us to prepare.'

With the country headed for a lengthy Brexit delay, senior cabinet member Andrea Leadsom has gone rogue by urging Mrs May to beg Angela Merkel to re-open the Brexit deal and change the Irish backstop - which the PM and the EU has repeatedly said is impossible.

She said: 'I think would be fantastic is if Angela Merkel will try to support a proper UK Brexit by agreeing to reopen the withdrawal agreement. There have been rumours over the weekend that some senior members of the German government would be willing to do that in order to get Theresa May's deal over the line'.

Theresa May fired the starting gun on Britain's participation in the European Parliament elections last night. Government officials formally triggered the elections for May 23 – at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of £108million – while the Tories launched a search for candidates.

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News Photo Liam Fox sabotages Labour talks with letter blasting a customs union as the 'worst of both worlds'
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