IDS backs Jacob Rees-Mogg as fears grow the Government is BACKSLIDING on Brexit
BREXITEER Iain Duncan Smith supported Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Brexit stance, saying the Tory MP’s position on Brexit was closer to the Government’s manifesto promises than its current approach to Brexit.
Iain Duncan Smith agrees with Rees-Mogg over UK's Brexit stance
Mr Duncan Smith said the Government had wavered from its original manifesto position and backed Jacob Rees-Mogg’s stance on Brexit.
Mr Rees-Mogg has lead a Brexiteer backlash over the Government’s handling of negotiations and Mr Duncan Smith backed up the Tory MP.
In a speech in Davos on Thursday, Chancellor Philip Hammond said he hoped the UK and EU economies will only move "very modestly" apart after Brexit, prompting a backlash from other Tory MPs.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Duncan Smith said: “I’m a little bit puzzled about the Chancellor’s intervention though.
Mr Duncan Smith said he supported Jacob Rees-Mogg's position on Brexit
“Because in our manifesto we were very clear that, and the public voted for two parties that said they were leaving the customs union, leaving the single market, they were not going to have freedom of movement because we were also going to take back control of our borders and our laws.
“Now all of that was very explicit in the manifesto signed up to by the government and which the public voted for.
“That means quite substantial change, not minor change.
“Yes, of course we want to remain good friends and allies and cooperate in trade and have a good trade arrangement but it is substantial change.
I think he is much closer to where the government was at the time of the election and needs to be as we go through
“So to that extent, I haven’t seen the Jacob Rees-Mogg speech, but from what I’ve heard I think he is much closer to where the government was at the time of the election and needs to be as we go through.”
Mr Duncan Smith said he wanted more confirmation that Britain will leave the customs union when it leaves the European Union.
He said: “We have a real need for clarity, a sense of vision about our future, where we intend ourselves to be, and a restatement of the fact that we won’t be in a customs union of any sort with the European Union after we leave.
“And that during the implementation phase new rules and new regulations we’ll have some way of dealing with that or we’ll become rule takers in a worse position than we are right now.”