310 Days to Go

(Bloomberg) -- Today in Brexit: Boris Johnson sets out his demands for Brexit, and warns the new Irish backstop proposal needs to be limited in time so Britain can press on with forging its own trade policy.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told Prime Minister Theresa May to “get on with” Brexit, setting out a list of demands for what a good divorce would look like.

In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg’s Tim Ross in Buenos Aires, Johnson said May must ensure that the U.K. takes back control over its tariff regime and gains the power to break away from European Union regulations if it chooses. If the final Brexit deal doesn’t deliver these conditions, it will fail to give the public the clean break from the bloc that it voted for, he said during a five-day tour of Latin America.

“The prime minister is the custodian of the plan, which is to come out of the customs union, out of the single market and to get on with it, to get on with that project with all convenient speed,” he said.

Just as negotiations in Brussels turn to the thorny question of the Irish border on Wednesday, Johnson raised questions about May’s compromise proposal, which would avoid a policed border on the island by keeping some EU rules as a last resort. The problem for Brexiters is that it could keep Britain tied to the bloc’s regulations for years after the split. May was attempting to break the deadlock over how to manage the border between the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.

May forced her Cabinet last week into the compromise, despite objections from Brexit-backing ministers including Johnson. It’s meant to be a backstop, an insurance clause, but Brexit supporters fear it’s a backdoor route to keeping the U.K. shackled to EU rules. If the U.K. is tied to the EU tariff regime, it can't go out and make trade deals with new countries, which Brexit campaigners promised would be a dividend of the divorce.

Johnson was clear that he doesn’t want Britain to operate under EU tariffs for a moment longer than necessary, and he called for more clarity on how long this backstop plan would last. “It’s important for people to have a sense of when it’s going to happen and to be able to do it as fast as is reasonably possible,” he said.

May is seeking to break the deadlock in talks so that progress can be made ahead of a crunch summit in June in Brussels. The EU has made threatening noises about what will happen if there’s no advancement on the Irish issue. But it’s not just the Brexiters who don’t like May’s compromise. Brussels isn’t sold on it yet either.

Johnson, who led the campaign for Brexit, has been putting pressure on May since she named him to the Cabinet she formed shortly after the June 2016 referendum. She needs him there to reassure Brexit voters that she’s delivering the divorce they were promised. If he resigned it would send a message to those voters that she’s betrayed the Brexit cause.

But will he quit if May doesn’t do what he wants? He wouldn’t say.

Today’s Must-Reads

• Hard-line Parliament member Jacob Rees-Mogg signals he is losing faith in May and wonders if the government actually wants to leave the EU at all.
• Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said British households are about £900 ($1,212) worse off than they would have been without Brexit. Johnson said that’s “absolutely not the case,” though he didn’t offer any data to back it up.

Brexit in Brief

Negotiation by Slideshow | The European Commission has published a chart that makes it clear that staying in a customs union is a very partial solution if you want a frictionless border. The EU negotiating team tweeted the slide, the latest in a series of color-coded presentations that make its position clear.

Our newest slide shows how customs authorities work w/ other public offices, and what checks & controls are not required when in a customs union w/ EU.https://t.co/dTlN4q3Zzb

Who’s First? | EU governments gave the go-ahead for the bloc to start trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. It opens up the possibility that the EU will get a trade deal with the two countries before the U.K. does, in what would be a blow to the U.K.’s post-Brexit strategy of forging tighter trade links with Commonwealth countries.

More Merkel Than May | Frances O’Grady, Britain’s most senior trade union leader, revealed she’s only met May once since she became prime minister – and said she had a better relationship with the chancellor of Germany. O’Grady urged May to pursue a Brexit deal that reflects the closeness of the 52 percent-48 percent referendum result.

Gove vs Hammond | Pro-Brexit Environment Secretary Michael Gove accused pro-EU Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond of helping inflict a House of Lords defeat on the government’s Brexit legislation, in a letter to Cabinet colleagues that was leaked to the Telegraph. Gove argues that if Hammond hadn’t blocked plans for tougher environmental rules after Brexit, the Lords defeat over keeping EU environmental regulations could have been avoided.

House Party Over? | London house prices are falling and the combination of Brexit and likely interest-rate hikes could turn the dip into something more dramatic, Jack Sidders reports. 

Barnier on the Bus | EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the referendum campaign was based on “inexact foundations” and the consequences weren’t properly explained, as he took aim at Johnson and the now notorious claim during the referendum campaign, splashed on the side of a big red bus, that the U.K. could allocate an extra £350 million a week to its health-care system after Brexit.

Boris Wants a Plane | On his trip to South America, Johnson told reporters he’d like his own plane, and a brightly colored one at that, to fly around the world promoting the U.K. as a global trading nation. May’s state-funded plane is rarely available when he needs it, he complained, as he wondered “Why does it have to be gray?” 

Coming Up | Negotiations in Brussels, with talks focused on the Irish border as well as remaining separation issues and the future relationship. Prime Minister’s Questions at noon. Johnson continues his South American trip in Chile, while the House of Commons Brexit Committee questions ministers Suella Braverman and Robin Walker at 9:15 a.m.

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To contact the author of this story: Emma Ross-Thomas in London at erossthomas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Swardson at aswardson@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden

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