Brexit today - as it happened: Liam Fox speech labels Labour's customs union promise 'a complete sell-out' of British national interest

Liam Fox says staying in a customs union would betray Brexit voters

Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, has claimed remaining in a customs union after Brexit would be a “complete sell-out” of Britain’s national interest.

Dr Fox’s warning at a speech in central London came a day after Jeremy Corbyn unveiled a shift in his party’s policy, confirming Labour will back a “new and comprehensive” UK-EU customs union to ensure tariff-free trade after Brexit.

Outlining his vision for future trade after Brexit, the Cabinet minister said there were real opportunities for Britain to show leadership on the global stage but only if struck on its own rather than “ceding control” to Brussels.

But Dr Fox’s speech was immediately overshadowed on Tuesday as his call for leaving the customs union – in favour of striking free trade deals – was described by a former top civil servant in his department as like “giving up a three-course meal for the promise of a packet of crisps”.

Sir Martin Donnelly, who left his role as permanent secretary at the Department of International Trade last year, said 60 per cent of UK trade is either with the EU or the countries it has trade agreements with, and that any divergence from Brussels rules would deal a blow to British services which would not be compensated for through deals with nations like the US.

When asked about Sir Martin’s comments, Dr Fox hit back, declaring: “Brexit is more complicated than a packet of Walkers”.

Key Points

• Liam Fox says being in an EU customs union would be a 'complete sell-out of Britain's national interest' 
• Momentum founder Jon Lansman will run for top Labour job as rival groups vie for power
• Brexit like giving up 'three-course meal now in favour of a packet of crisps later', says former top trade official
• Boris Johnson attacked for comparing Northern Ireland border to that between Camden and Westminster
• Customs union: What is it, what would leaving it mean and what post-Brexit alternatives are there?

[27 February 2018 08:27 · Ashley Cowburn]

[27 February 2018 08:27 · Ashley Cowburn]

[27 February 2018 08:28 · Ashley Cowburn]

[27 February 2018 08:42 · Ashley Cowburn]

Boris Johnson has just been talking about the situation in Syria.

He told Radio 4's Today programme: "It's very important to recognise there's no military solution that we in the West can now impose and I think we have to be absolutely clear about this, the people listening to us, listening to this programme in eastern Ghouta cannot get the idea that the West is going to intervene to change the odds dramatically in their favour.

"But what I think we need to ask ourselves as a country, and I think what we in the West need to ask ourselves, is can we allow the use of chemical weapons, the use of these illegal weapons to go unreprieved, unchecked, unpunished? And I don't think that we can."

He went on: "If there is incontrovertible evidence of the use of chemical weapons, verified by the Office of the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, if we know that it's happened and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful, then I think that we should seriously consider it."

[27 February 2018 09:01 · Ashley Cowburn]

[27 February 2018 09:13 · Ashley Cowburn]

Mr Johnson said the CBI business lobby group and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were "wrong" to back a customs union with Brussels, as it would leave Britain a "colony" of the EU in a situation that would be the "worst of all worlds".

"You can't suck and blow at once, as they say, we're going to have to come out of the customs union in order to be able to do free trade deals," he said.

[27 February 2018 09:19 · Ashley Cowburn]

[27 February 2018 09:38 · Lizzy Buchan]

Boris Johnson has made waves this morning by comparing the issue of the Irish border to the line between London boroughs of Camden and Westminster.

[27 February 2018 09:49 · Lizzy Buchan]

In an interview with the Today programme, Boris Johnson said Britain should consider joining military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime if there is fresh "incontrovertible" evidence he has used chemical weapons against his own people.

The Foreign Secretary said that while the West could not intervene to change the odds in favour of the rebels fighting the regime, he believed the use of illegal weapons should not go unpunished.

"It's very important to recognise there's no military solution that we in the West can now impose.

"The people listening to us, listening to this programme in eastern Ghouta cannot get the idea that the West is going to intervene to change the odds dramatically in their favour.

"But what I think we need to ask ourselves as a country, and I think what we in the West need to ask ourselves, is can we allow the use of chemical weapons, the use of these illegal weapons to go unreprieved, unchecked, unpunished? And I don't think that we can."

He went on: "If there is incontrovertible evidence of the use of chemical weapons, verified by the Office of the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, if we know that it's happened and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful, then I think that we should seriously consider it."

Mr Johnson's comments came as a five-hour pause in the regime's assault on the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta, close to the capital Damascus, was beginning.

[27 February 2018 09:53 · Lizzy Buchan]

The founder of the powerful Corbyn-backing Momentum organisation will run for the position of Labour’s general secretary, The Independent understands. 

On Monday sources close to the veteran left-winger Jon Lansman said he was considering throwing his hat into the ring following the dramatic resignation of Iain McNicol last week after nearly seven years in the role.

​Story here: