Jacob Rees-Mogg attacks government over Brexit “weakness”
Outspoken backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched an astonishing broadside against the government, slamming it for “abject weakness” over plans to allow a temporary extension to the UK’s membership of the customs union.
The plan – proposed last week as a final resort “backstop” – has won the conditional backing of Cabinet Brexiters Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, with the former urging pro Leave MPs to give Theresa May “space and time” to get a better deal in place before time runs out.
But the North East Somerset MP and leader of the influential group of Brexit-backing MPs has lashed out at the proposals. In his podcast for the ConHome website, Rees-Mogg said it was “disconcerting when the government says one thing and then agrees to do another”.
Noting that May had originally backed Remain, he said trust was “very important” – particularly for those who voted Leave.
“I think for the government to be preparing for failure two and half years before the point at which they ought to be ready is just weak.
To go into the negotiations to say to Mr Barnier, ‘we will kowtow before you in every way you possibly want if we cannot get everything ready by the due date’ encourages him to say, ‘just kowtow, I’m quite happy’. And make no effort to come to a sensible agreement, I think it is a sign of abject weakness.”
The MP claims the backstop made it “very attractive to the EU not to offer us anything further, and therefore it is essentially a trap”.
Instead, he urged May to make preparations for leaving without a deal “as an essential part of the negotiations”, once again repeating that her government had been “weak about that”.
“I think we need some backbone in these negotiations,” he added. “I fear we’re getting to the point where you wonder whether the government really wants to leave at all.”