MPs to vote on customs union proposal by committee chairs

A group of 10 committee chairs have put forward a parliamentary motion calling for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU after Brexit.

The move puts Prime Minister Theresa May on course for a further tussle in parliament after the House of Lords voted heavily for the government to keep open the option of a customs union after the UK leaves the EU.

The cross-party group of committee chairs, under the umbrella of the liaison committee, called for the government to include a customs union in its negotiations with the EU. They included pro-EU Conservatives Nicky Morgan and Sarah Wollaston and Labour chairs such as Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn.

The motion, to be debated by MPs on 26 April, says the EU is Britain’s biggest export market and notes the government’s aim of achieving frictionless trade with the EU after Brexit. It also stresses the importance of keeping the border open between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The motion revives tensions within May’s Conservative party and the prospect of pro-remain MPs working across party lines after May appeared to have won the backing of Morgan and Wollaston for her Brexit position in March.

May has no parliamentary majority, meaning she could lose the symbolic vote if a handful of her MPs vote with opposition parties. The Labour opposition came out in favour of remaining in some form of customs union in February.

The motion "calls on the government to include as an objective in negotiations on the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union the establishment of an effective customs union between the two territories."