Post-Brexit customs arrangements to be debated on July 16 and 17

Reuters: British lawmakers will debate the government’s proposed legislation on post-Brexit customs arrangements and trade on July 16 and 17, creating another potential flashpoint between Prime Minister Theresa May and pro-European Union lawmakers.

The debates will be a chance for lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party to make the case for Britain to remain in a customs union with the EU – something May has ruled out despite being unable to find an alternative that is acceptable to her cabinet and Brussels.

The customs bill is a technical piece of legislation creating the legal powers for the government to put in place an as yet undetermined customs policy on imposing duties on goods entering the country. The trade bill covers converting the EU’s existing trade deals into bilateral deals direct with Britain.

Customs policy has become one of the most difficult hurdles in talks with Brussels and a British negotiating position is still being thrashed out at government level.

May on Friday is expected to propose a new plan to ease trade and offer Britain more freedom to set tariffs after Brexit, a last-ditch attempt to unite her divided government on plans to leave the European Union.

Her Downing Street office said May will unveil the plan – the “facilitated customs arrangement” – to her team of ministers at her country residence Chequers, trying to secure an agreement to push on with all-but-stalled Brexit talks.

May is under increasing pressure from EU officials, companies and some lawmakers to move forward with negotiations to leave the EU, a departure that will mark Britain’s biggest trading and foreign policy shift in almost half a century.

The new plan will see Britain closely mirror EU rules, use technology to determine where goods will end up and therefore which tariffs should be applied, and hand Britain the freedom to set its own tariffs on goods.

Last month, May’s minority government passed laws that will end Britain’s EU membership in March next year.

To do that, she had to make several compromises to avoid a hugely damaging defeat in parliament at the hands of a group of pro-EU rebels – one of two factions within her party with opposing views on what Brexit should look like. At the time, some of the pro-EU lawmakers indicated they had chosen not to rebel on that bill in order to make their case during the customs and trade legislation debates. Both bills will need to go through several additional stages before becoming law.