Theresa May is gathering her Brexit war Cabinet today to try and hammer out a negotiating strategy – amid warnings that decisions are needed now.
The Prime Minister and her most senior ministers will meet this afternoon to consider how they want the ‘end state’ of relations with the EU to look.
Another crunch session is due tomorrow as the government prepares for a crucial stage of talks with Brussels. But there are signs that the war Cabinet will again try to fudge choices over the thorniest issues like customs arrangements with the EU and the Irish border.
One Cabinet minister told MailOnline : ‘We are at the point where decisions need to be taken. Business needs certainty, whichever way we decide to go.’
It emerged today that Ireland is upping the pressure by demanding a settled ‘legal text’ by next month guaranteeing the border will remain ‘soft’ after Brexit.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has made Dublin’s tough line clear to UK ministers, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The Cabinet subcommittee – made up of Mrs May and her top ministers including Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – is set to discuss the Ireland issue this afternoon.
The talks will also cover the potential immigration arrangements for after we leave – while tomorrow the group is expected to consider future trade arrangements.
But there are deep tensions between the Brexiteer and Remain factions, with Mr Hammond accused of trying to keep the UK tied to the EU customs union for years after we formally leave the bloc.
MailOnline revealed last night that Mr Johnson is risking escalating Tory infighting by planning a big speech on his vision for ‘liberal Brexit’ for Valentine’s Day.
That would be just days before Mrs May is expected to deliver her own keynote address on the future of defence and security ties in Munich.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned that Britain must provide more ‘clarity’ on its aims when he came to Downing Street on Monday.
Union wants to put in place a method to rapidly curtail the UK’s single market benefits if it breaches agreements on a transition deal.
The plans would see Brussels able to restrict the UK’s access to the single market without going through the lengthy European Court of Justice (ECJ) legal process.
A copy of the draft position paper circulating in Brussels said there should be a ‘mechanism’ allowing the EU to ‘suspend certain benefits’ of single market membership during the transition period.
Such a move would be considered if referring the matter to the ECJ ‘would not bring in time the necessary remedies’, according to the document, which sets out the EU’s position on a transition deal in legal language.
The document also said the UK would only be ‘consulted’ when decisions are made on fishing quotas during the period.