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Mr Davis’s letter
Department for Exiting the European Union
8th July 2018
Dear Prime Minister
As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line The Brexit secretary has threatened to resign no fewer than five times since November 2017. , ranging from accepting the Commission’s sequencing of negotiations through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility Theresa May, the prime minister, told Eurosceptics in cabinet last week that "collective responsibility is now fully restored". In other words, if they spoke out against the “soft-Brexit” strategy agreed at Chequers on Friday, they would be sacked. because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market.
I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. Whether it is the progressive dilution of what I thought was a firm Chequers agreement In February on right to diverge, or the unnecessary delays of the start of the White Paper, or the presentation of a backstop proposal that omitted the strict conditions that I requested and believed that we had agreed, the general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one.
The Cabinet decision on Friday crystallised this problem. In my view the inevitable consequence of the proposed policies will be to make the supposed control by Parliament illusory rather than real. This is a withering attack on the government’s position, which Mr Davis argues will leave the UK in a weak negotiating position, “and possibly an inescapable one”. He believes the government is on course to make further concessions to the EU over the coming months of negotiation, and clearly feels he is not in a position to sell a plan to MPs that he himself does not believe in. As I said at Cabinet, the “common rule book” policy hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense.
I am also unpersuaded that our negotiating approach will not just lead to further demands for concessions. Responding to the complex new customs plan drawn up by Mrs May’s top Brexit official, Olly Robbins, Mr Davis last week wrote a letter warning that it would be rejected by Brussels. He was was overruled, but many Tory Eurosceptics fear the prime minister’s Chequers plan may signal the start of a series of major concessions.
Of course this is a complex area of judgement and it is possible that you are right and I am wrong. However, even in that event it seems to me that the national interest requires a Secretary of State in my Department that is an enthusiastic believer in your approach, and not merely a reluctant conscript Mr Davis is understood to have felt increasingly sidelined over recent months, and No 10 kept him in the dark about Mrs May's new plan until the very last moment. According to government records, the Brexit secretary held only four hours of talks with his Brussels opposite number this year. . While I have been grateful to you for the opportunity to serve, it is with great regret that I tender my resignation from the Cabinet with immediate effect.
Yours ever
David Davis
Mrs May’s reply
10 DOWNING STREET LONDON SWIA 2AA
THE PRIME MINISTER
Dear David
8 July 2018
Thank you for your letter explaining your decision to resign as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
I am sorry that you have chosen to leave the Government when we have already made so much progress towards delivering a smooth and successful Brexit The resignation will come as a blow to Mrs May, who believed she had united her top team behind her on Friday. However, the Brexit secretary’s resignation will not come as a total surprise. Downing Street feared that either Mr Davis or foreign secretary Boris Johnson might quit the cabinet in protest at her compromise Brexit strategy. Mr Johnson has not resigned, but described his leader's plan as “a turd” during Friday's meeting at Chequers. , and when we are only eight months from the date set in law when the United Kingdom will leave the European Union.
At Chequers on Friday, we as the Cabinet agreed a comprehensive and detailed proposal which provides a precise, responsible, and credible basis for progressing our negotiations towards a new relationship between the UK and the EU after we leave in March. We set out how we will deliver on the result of the referendum and the commitments we made in our manifesto for the 2017 general election:
1. Leaving the EU on 29 March 2019.
2. Ending free movement and taking back control of our borders.
3. No more sending vast sums of money each year to the EU.
4. A new business-friendly customs model with freedom to strike new trade deals around the world.
5. A UK-EU free trade area with a common rulebook for industrial goods and agricultural products which will be good for jobs. At Chequers on Friday, Mrs May's ministers supported her plan to keep the UK close to parts of the EU customs union and single market, including a “UK-EU free trade area which establishes a common rulebook for industrial goods and agricultural products”. The plan would see Britain commit to a treaty to adopt new EU rules for goods — an approach viewed by some Tories as leaving the UK as “a vassal state”.
6. A commitment to maintain high standards on consumer and employment rights and the environment.
7. A Parliamentary lock on all new rules and regulations.
8. Leaving the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. The government provoked fury from the fishing industry after it accepted EU demands to keep British fishermen’s share of the “total catch” unchanged during the post-Brexit transition period. Mr Davis reportedly threatened to resign in March if Britain’s fishermen did not gain control of their waters from 2021.
9. Restoring the supremacy of British courts by ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK.
10. No hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. On Friday, the cabinet agreed to “a business-friendly customs model” intended to help secure an open Irish border.
11. Continued, close co-operation on security to keep our people safe.
12. An independent foreign and defence policy, working closely with the EU and other allies.
This is consistent with the mandate of the referendum and with the commitments we laid out in our general election manifesto: leaving the single market and the customs union but seeking a deep and special partnership including a comprehensive free trade and customs agreement Mr Davis believes that plans to keep the UK close to the single market and customs union will unravel and Mrs May will be forced to make even more concessions to Brussels in the coming months. ; ending the vast annual contributions to the EU; and pursuing fair, orderly negotiations, minimising disruption and giving as much certainty as possible so both sides benefit.
As we said in our manifesto, we believe it is necessary to agree the terms of our future partnership alongside our withdrawal, reaching agreement on both within the two years allowed by Article 50. I have always agreed with you that these two must go alongside one another, but if we are to get sufficient detail about our future partnership, we need to act now. We have made a significant move: it is for the EU now to respond in the same spirit. Downing Street has acknowledged that the new strategy does not go far enough to satisfy all the EU's demands, but Mrs May has spoken with EU leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, who she believes will give her proposals a fair hearing.
I do not agree with your characterisation of the policy we agreed at Cabinet on Friday. Parliament will decide whether or not to back the deal the Government negotiates, but that deal will undoubtedly mean the returning of powers from Brussels to the United Kingdom. The direct effect of EU law will end when we leave the EU. Where the UK chooses to apply a common rulebook, each rule will have to be agreed by Parliament. Choosing not to sign up to certain rules would lead to consequences for market access, security co-operation or the frictionless border, but that decision will rest with our sovereign Parliament, which will have a lock on whether to incorporate those rules into the UK legal order.
I am sorry that the Government will not have the benefit of your continued expertise The Brexit secretary has felt increasingly isolated as Mrs May has relied on Olly Robbins. Mr Davis felt his role was gradually being taken over by Mr Robbins. and counsel as we secure this deal and complete the process of leaving the EU, but I would like to thank you warmly for everything you have done over the past two years as Secretary of State to shape our departure from the EU, and the new role the UK will forge on the world stage as an independent, self-governing nation once again.
You returned to Government after nineteen years to lead an entirely new Department responsible for a vital, complex, and unprecedented task. You have helped to steer through Parliament some of the most important legislation for generations, including the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 and the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which received Royal Assent last week. These landmark Acts, and what they will do, stand as testament to your work and our commitment to honouring the result of the referendum.
Yours sincerely
Theresa May