UK to set out EU free trade deal objectives next month, says Brexit secretary
Britain will outline more details about its objectives for a free trade deal with the European Union next month after leaving the bloc on Friday, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said.
“We are going to publish our objectives for the negotiation… in due course after the 31st,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr this morning.
Barclay said that the UK would “have control of our rules” and would “not be a rule taker” post-Brexit, but added: “we will not diverge for the sake of diverging, we start from a position of alignment”.
“We need to look at where the opportunities are,” Barclay continued. “But it is true that we are going to have control of our approach to regulation and that’s the very essence of Brexit — is that we can do things differently.”
“The key opportunity is that we will be able to set our standards, high standards, on worker’s rights, on the environment, on state aid as part of that trade policy,” he added.
The Brexit secretary’s comments appeared to strike a softer tone on the issue of divergence than Chancellor Sajid Javid, who last week said there would be “no alignment” with the bloc post-Brexit, calling on firms to instead “adjust” to new regulations.
But Home Secretary Priti Patel this morning insisted the UK “will be diverging” from EU rules post-Brexit.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge programme, Patel said there was “no disagreement in government at all” that Britain would diverge from the bloc’s rules.
“In terms of divergence, we are not having alignment. We will be diverging. We want to take control of our laws, money and our borders,” she said.
Javid moved to refine his stance on alignment last week after facing a backlash from business bodies and some manufacturers over his insistence that businesses would have to “adapt” to the new rules.
“There will be an impact on businesses one way or the other, some will benefit, some won’t,” Javid had told the Financial Times.
But the chancellor later clarified his stance, and has indicated that the government would only move to diverge from EU rules if it considers the change would be worthwhile.
On a visit to London earlier this month, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “Our partnership cannot and will not be the same as before.”
“It will not be as close as before because with every choice comes a consequence,” she continued.
“The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership will be.”