Sources appear to have confirmed that Theresa May is attempting to tack a second so-called Brexit ‘transition’ on to the one she is currently negotiating with the EU, which would keep Britain inside the bloc’s Customs Union until at least 2023.
The Prime Minister has already signed up to a ‘transition’ after Britain’s formal exit from the EU in 2019, which will last to the end of 2020 and see the country continue to abide by all the bloc’s rules and regulations, and even extend its Free Movement immigration regime to include impoverished Croatia.
The Times now reports that she is proposing that this ‘transition’ should be followed immediately by another one, which would keep Britain inside the EU Customs Union and leave Brussels in charge of international trade all the way to 2023 — around eight years after voters told politicians they wanted out of the bloc in June 2016.
UKIP leader Gerard Batten told Breitbart London that the move “continues the Prime Minister’s strategy from the outset: delay, impede, overturn. The people will not be listened to, or forgiven.”
He said it was clear that “May’s intention at the next election is to offer the country the stark contrast of ‘Brexit In Name Only’ or Corbyn’s neo-Venezuelan approach.”
“Brexit — real Brexit — will no longer be on the table,” he added, saying that the situation underlined “why UKIP continues to be of vital importance to the country’s politics.”
Leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg slammed suggestions Britain could be kept inside the Customs Union beyond the initial ‘transition’ period — which he was not keen on, to begin with — before the proposals apparent confirmation by The Times.
“We have gone from a clear endpoint, to an extension, to a proposed further extension with no endpoint. The horizon seems to be unreachable. The bottom of the rainbow seems to be unattainable,” he complained.
“People voted to leave, they did not vote for a perpetual purgatory.”
The Remainer-dominated House of Commons Select Committee appears to sense an opportunity, however, with chairman Hilary Benn, of the Labour Party, pushing for Britain to stay in the Customs Union indefinitely.
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