Newington’s Joe Knight summarises Brexit Secretary David Davis' statement on the third round of Brexit negotiations.
Brexit Secretary David Davis MP (Con, Haltemprice and Howden) gave an oral statement on 5 September updating the House of Commons on the third round of Brexit negotiations completed in Brussels.
The statement updated the House on progress in matters pertaining to:
Davis concluded his statement with the claim that the UK’s withdrawal deal and deal on any future relationship should be negotiated in parallel, because there are some aspects of the withdrawal deal (Phase 1) that cannot be settled until the terms of any future relationship (Phase 2) is known, citing the key example of the Irish border. The Brexit Secretary’s view contrasts with that of the European Commission, which insists that there must be “sufficient progress” on the terms of withdrawal before discussion can begin on the terms of the future relationship.
Key points
The rights of EU citizens
Privileges and immunities of EU staff/institutions in the UK
Handling of nuclear material
Civil-judicial and criminal judicial cooperation
Trade in goods currently on the market
Northern Ireland and the border
Financial Settlement
Parallel negotiations
Analysis
Labour Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer MP (Lab, Holborn and St Pancras) began the subsequent debate, bemoaning the slow progress of negotiations, claiming that on some issues the two sides “appear to be getting further apart.” He blamed this on position papers that were “riddled with fantasies” and the Government’s steadfast commitments to “flawed red lines”, on issues such as the ECJ. He asked Davis what he was doing to ensure real progress in the next round of talks and called for further position papers on “key issues,” presumably referring to the absence of a paper on the financial settlement. Interestingly, he echoed the claim that some aspects of Phase 1 talks cannot be settled without progress on Phase 2 talks.
A number of MPs that had campaigned to leave the EU offered up softball questions that allowed Davis to repeat some of his key talking points. John Redwood MP (Con, Wokingham) asked Davis if he agreed that trading with the EU on WTO terms, the consequence of a ‘no-deal’ scenario, would “work fine” for the UK. Davis then concurred with Labour MP Kate Hoey that anyone voting against the EU (Withdrawal) Bill would be “betraying the will of the people.” As expected, Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised the EU’s handling of the financial settlement, with Davis agreeing that the “legal basis” on the EU’s figures were flawed.
The Whips’ would have been paying close attention to the questions from their own benches, but would have been reassured. The questions from the Tory Remain camp were not overly critical, despite stressing genuine policy differences with the Government on important issues and certainly gave no indication that they would rebel and vote against the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.
Indeed, to the Government’s delight, vocal remainer Anna Soubry (Con, Broxtowe) used the bulk of her question to press on Labour’s internal divisions over Europe. She was joined by a number of Conservative colleagues, who noted that Keir Starmer’s commitment last week to Single Market membership during a transitional period contradicted the party’s general election manifesto. This line of attack is likely to continue as the Tories look to split Labour MPs with Leave voting electorates from the substantial wing of the party that back continued single Market membership.
Questions from Labour MPs largely focused on the economic impact of a “no-deal” scenario. Many followed up the question of Angela Eagle (Lab, Wallasey), who gave a vivid portrayal of the impact on the car industry in her constituency. However, there were no direct calls to maintain Single Market membership despite the growing momentum of this campaign within the party. There was also some forensic questioning on the Irish border, with a number of MPs challenging Davis on the lack of detail in his plans. These echoed concerns expressed by Michel Barnier and Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney in a press conference earlier this week and is clearly an area where Labour thinks it can harm the Government.
Next steps
The Secretary of State for Brexit David Davis faced DExEU questions on the morning of Thursday 7 September, before opening the second reading debate on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill later that day. Debate is scheduled to last for two days and MPs are due to vote on the bill at midnight on Monday 11 September.
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