Britain proposes temporary customs union post Brexit
The UK government has suggested a temporary customs union with the European Union after Brexit as it published a position paper on Tuesday.
However, it also stated that Britain would also be free to negotiate its own international trade deals - something it cannot do as an EU customs union member.
Brexit Secretary David Davis suggested Britain may also be prepared to pay to stay in the interim arrangement, adding that the period would have to end before the next UK election, which has to be held by 2022.
According to the document, the UK would try to agree either a "highly streamlined" border with the EU, or a new partnership arrangement with no boundaries. It wanted to see an deal that created “frictionless" trade.
The customs union allows goods to travel across the EU free of tariffs and checks. The sticking point will be the Britain's insistence that it can strike trade deals with non-EU states.
Under one option of the plan, Britain would "continue some existing arrangements we have with the EU, reduce or remove barriers to trade through new arrangements, and adopt technology-based solutions to make it easier for businesses to comply with customs procedures".
A second option would be a new customs partnership " by aligning our approach to the customs border in a way that removes the need for a UK-EU customs border. One potential approach would involve the UK mirroring the EU’s requirements for imports from the rest of the world where the final destination is the EU".
The government admitted there would be "an increase in administration compared with being inside the EU Customs Union".
"While the government has looked at precedents set by customs agreements between other countries, it is not seeking to replicate another country’s model and will pursue the approach that works best for the UK," it added.
A European Commission spokesman said the interim period request had been noted, but reminded Davis that it progress was still needed on other key issues such as the rights of EU nationals, the border with Ireland and the final “divorce bill” before Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.
"An agreement on a future relationship between the EU and the UK can only be finalised once the UK has become a third country,” the spokesman said
"As (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier has said on several occasions, 'frictionless trade' is not possible outside the single market and customs union."
EU Parliament coordinator Guy Verhofstadt, echoed the EU position in slightly stronger terms.
"To be in & out of the Customs Union & "invisible borders" is a fantasy. First need to secure citizens rights & a financial settlement," he said.
Davis said he could not see a deal on the final financial settlement being reached before November.
“There won’t be a number by October or November,” he told the BBC.
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, branded the customs proposals "incoherent and inadequate" and "designed to gloss over deep and continuing divisions within the Cabinet".
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said a proper deal was “essential to ensuring UK consumers are able to buy the products they want after Brexit”.
“However, this is a complex issue, including safety checks as well as customs paperwork and we need to develop a system that avoids disruption at our ports,” she said.
“We import more food than non-food from the EU and much of that is fresh, so delays would have a significant impact on supply chains. We want to work with Government to develop a system which works for consumers."