'Most IMPORTANT deliberations' May ready to keep Cabinet up ALL NIGHT to thrash out Brexit
THERESA May is threatening to force her Cabinet ministers to work through the night to thrash out a plan for the Brexit negotiations with Brussels, it emerged today.
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The Prime Minister is due to convene a crunch meeting of her key Brexit sub-committee at Chequers on Thursday after weeks of squabbling over the Government's blueprint for relations with the EU.
Insiders say the meeting at the official country residence is scheduled to last from 2pm until 10pm but could run into the early hours in the drive to get all members of the sub-committee to sign up to the plan.
Mrs May is expected to seek to unite her divided colleagues around proposals to keep British regulations aligned with Brussels to allow "frictionless trade".
To reassure Eurosceptic ministers, she will say Britain should have the freedom over the long term to move away from Brussels rules under "managed divergence".
Her attempt to broker a compromise follows a series of bitter disputes between Brexit enthusiasts led by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove and supporters of continuing close links with Brussels, headed by Chancellor Philip Hammond.
They will take part in one of the most important deliberations of their political lives
Former Foreign Secretary Lord Hague yesterday warned that the meeting is likely to see one of the most important Cabinet discussions in a generation.
He wrote in a newspaper article: "When senior ministers meet later this week at Chequers to discuss the Brexit negotiations they will take part in one of the most important deliberations of their political lives.
"If they can come up with a plan for our future trading with the EU that is workable, acceptable to the Conservative Party, can command a majority in Parliament and be negotiated with Brussels, the prize is huge: the delivery of a successful exit from the European Union and the confounding of critics across the continent.
"If they fail to do so, the consequences are unknowable but might include the collapse of their administration; unnecessary loss of economic confidence, jobs and growth; constitutional chaos over Brexit; and the election of the most Left-wing and extremist government Britain would ever have known.
"They will be treading a narrow path, leading to safer pastures but spanning an abyss. Doing so will require some agility, a fresh look at the terrain, and no one wandering off on their own."
EU Exit Secretary David Davis yesterday used a speech in Austria to signal to European leaders and businesses that the British Government was not planning a mass cull of regulations after Brexit to ensure trade with the EU will remain "as frictionless as possible".
He said the UK could follow other countries aroud the world including Switzerland, Canada and South Korea in signing "mutual recognition agreements" with Brussels to signal trust in each other's regulatory standards.
"While we will be seeking a bespoke agreement, reflecting our shared history and existing trade, there are already precedents outside the EU that we can look to," he told an audience of business leaders in Vienna.
"The European Union itself has a number of mutual recognition agreements with a variety of countries from Switzerland to Canada to South Korea."
He added: "A crucial part of any such agreement is the ability for both sides to trust each other's regulations and the institutions that enforce them. With a robust and independent arbitration mechanism.
"Such mutual recognition will naturally require close, even-handed cooperation between these authorities and a common set of principles to guide them."
His comments were welcomed by the British Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall.
Mr Marshall said: "UK firms would welcome a pragmatic agreement between the UK and the EU that ensures businesses face only one set of regulatory approvals to sell their goods across borders.
"It is incumbent on the UK Government to demonstrate the basis for mutual recognition between the UK and the EU - and it is the EU's responsibility to be open to such an arrangement as the negotiations progress."
Allie Renison, head of Europe and trade policy at the Institute of Directors, said: “Business leaders welcome the speech made by the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, which acknowledges that equivalent standards and regulations should not impede market access, but firms will require more clarity on how this would work in practice.
“The IoD is particularly pleased that Davis acknowledges the importance of keeping a level playing field on state aid and competition policy.
“Minimising trade barriers can and should go hand in hand with a future deal with the EU."