To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the speech by the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry on 22 January proposing that a comprehensive customs union between the UK and the EU should be on the table as part of the Brexit negotiations.
Answered on
26 January 2018
As the Prime Minister has made clear, on leaving the EU, the UK will also be leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union. We will seek to establish a new and ambitious customs arrangement with the EU that allows us to forge new trading relationships with our partners around the world, while maintaining as frictionless trade as possible in goods between the UK and EU, and providing a positive and powerful voice for free trade.
In our future customs arrangements paper, we set out our two preferred models for a future customs arrangement with the EU. In assessing the options for the UK’s future outside the EU Customs Union, the Government will be guided by what delivers the greatest economic advantage to the UK, and by three strategic objectives:
Ensuring UK-EU trade is as frictionless as possible;
Avoiding a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland;
And establishing an independent international trade policy.