International Trade Secretary Liam Fox rubbishes Boris Johnson's Brexit plan
The cabinet minister pours cold water on the would-be PM's claim that the UK could escape EU tariffs after a no-deal Brexit.
Monday 24 June 2019 09:26, UK
A leading cabinet Brexiteer has led criticism of Boris Johnson's strategy for leaving the EU.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox dismissed Mr Johnson's claim that issues such as the Irish border could be negotiated with the EU during a Brexit implementation period.
At the first leadership hustings event for Conservative members on Saturday - as he battles with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to become the UK's new prime minister - Mr Johnson said he would "disaggregate" parts of Theresa May's now "defunct" Brexit deal.
Repeating his argument that Britain should "reserve" payment of the £39bn Brexit divorce bill until there is greater clarity on a future trade deal, Mr Johnson added: "Then, of course, you solve the problems of free movement of goods across the Irish, Northern Irish and other borders, to where they logically belong.
"That is in the context of the free trade agreement that we will negotiate in the implementation period after we have come out on 31 October."
However, Dr Fox shot down Mr Johnson's plan by stating there would be no Brexit implementation period without a withdrawal agreement.
The implementation period is otherwise known as a transition period and would see the UK preserve the status quo of EU membership while a future UK-EU relationship is put in place.
The EU has said a withdrawal agreement must include a financial settlement, measures on EU citizens' rights in the UK, and protections for the Irish border.
Dr Fox, who campaigned for Leave alongside Mr Johnson in the 2016 EU referendum, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show it is "correct" that the absence of a withdrawal agreement would mean there is no implementation period.
He added: "if you don't get the withdrawal agreement through parliament, there is no implementation period during which we can do anything at all."
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Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, who is Mrs May's de facto deputy prime minister, made the same point on Twitter.
"Erm, the Implementation Period is actually part of the Withdrawal Agreement," he wrote on Twitter.
"It's in Part 4 of the Agreement, articles 126 to 132. No Deal exit = no Withdrawal Agreement = no Implementation Period."
Dr Fox also poured cold water on Mr Johnson's previous suggestion that a no-deal Brexit would see "no tariffs" and "no quotas" on EU-UK trade due to a "standstill in our current arrangements" under Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Brexiteers have argued that this piece of international trade law would exempt the UK, under a no-deal Brexit, from EU tariffs - such as 10% on cars - while a future trade deal is negotiated.
But Dr Fox, who is backing Mr Hunt for the Conservative leadership, claimed such an assertion "isn't true".
"If we leave the EU without a deal, the EU will apply tariffs to the UK because you can only have exemptions… if you already have a trade agreement to go to," he said.
"And, clearly, if we leave without a deal it's self-evident we don't have that agreement.
"So Article 24 doesn't hold in that circumstance and I've discussed that with the director-general of the World Trade Organisation and the attorney-general [Geoffrey Cox] has given us the same advice."
Mr Johnson has repeatedly said the UK must leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a withdrawal deal.