Business

Gove: ‘No deal’ Brexit still possible in spite of new government agreement

Environment minister and prominent Leave campaigner Michael Gove today insisted Brexit negotiations could end without a deal, in spite of a compromise Cabinet position reached at the end of last week.

The Cabinet on Friday agreed to back Prime Minister Theresa Mays plan to try to negotiate a free trade area for goods but to stay outside of EU structures for services.

The signs of progress after months of standstill were broadly welcomed by business groups, with the deadline for gaining a deal with the EU rapidly approaching. However, Gove said the government would still consider the “no deal” Brexit feared by most large business organisations.

“If the EU is ungenerous and inflexible then we may have to contemplate walking away without a deal,” he told the BBC. “One of the things we agreed at Chequers is that we would step up the preparations for precisely that outcome.”

Read more: UK's Brexit position: Here's what the Cabinet agreed

Gove acknowledged that the government is not yet prepared to walk away without severe disruption, but said departments are “in the process of hiring a significant number of people”.

Labour shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said leaving the EU without a deal would be “intolerable”, and denounced the plans for a so-called facilitated customs arrangement “unworkable” and a “bureaucratic nightmare”.

Gove was defending the came after Conservative colleagues reportedly expressed serious reservations about the governments negotiating position. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson described the proposals as “polishing a turd”, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a briefing from the European Research Group, a powerful group of backbench Conservative Brexit backers, said the position would lead to a “worst of all worlds black hole Brexit” and leave the UK stuck in a “regulatory tar pit”, with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) still involved in trade disputes.

Gove insisted that the UK will not be under the “direct control” of the ECJ, although in practice the body is likely to retain significant influence if the governments position is realised.

“The ECJs judgements and European law will be taken into account by our courts with specific reference to trade arrangements,” Gove said.

Read more: White smoke: PM hails "business-friendly" Brexit position as Cabinet unites

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CityAM

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