Brexiteers divided over EU exit after ministers all but confirm a two-year transition deal means we’ll effectively be in the EU until 2021
Some MPs signalled they will be happy with an offer that would allow freedom of movement to continue, but others insist we'll effectively be in the EU for longer
BREXITEERS are divided over the possibility of a two-year transition deal that will mean the UK is effectively still in the EU until 2021.
Michael Gove all but confirmed reports that the cabinet are united behind the idea when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019.
He told Sky News this morning: "We absolutely need to ensure that we honour the referendum result and that we reform the rules on immigration and take back control of that policy but we need to do so in a pragmatic and sensible way.
He went on in a separate interview: "I think the judgment we need to make about future migration policy should and be shaped by what's in the interests of our economy, consistent with recognising the instruction the British people gave us last year."
And Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Sky News: "Having waited 43 years, another couple of years - if we can get it to work well for the country and for our European partners, and we can do it for the stability of British business and for our own prosperity - that seems to me just a common sense thing to do."
Philip Hammond is understood to have drawn up the plans and believes that all of Theresa May's top team are behind him.
Earlier this week the Prime Minister chaired the first meeting of a business council focusing on Brexit.
A No 10 spokesperson said that the "Government’s overarching goal is for a smooth, orderly exit culminating in a comprehensive free trade deal with the EU, with a period of implementation in order to avoid any cliff-edges".
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And business minister Lord Prior of Brampton said earlier this week that it would be the "softest of Brexits" - signalling there could be a long period to help businesses adjust.
Some Brexiteers are behind him - with Anne-Marie Trevelyan saying that Britain will have to address the skills gap before cutting back on immigration.
She told Radio 4 this morning: "Any implementation programme which we have to roll through absolutely needs to match the business needs, so that we don’t have cliff edges. There are skills gaps across the country which we have to crack before we can be absolutely rigorous."
But earlier this year the Prime Minister promised that Brexit would mean "controls on the number of people who come to Britain from Europe", and promised that action would be taken for a new immigration system.
Last night it was revealed that designing this new system is being pushed back until the end of the year.
Voters think the Tories are even more divided than Labour, new polls show
BRITISH voters think the Conservatives are even more divided than Labour, new polls show.
Just under a third thought the ruling party were a divided one back in May before the snap election took place in June.
But since Theresa May lost her majority, that figure has shot up to 74 per cent,
After Jeremy Corbyn's party won 30 more seats, 47 per cent of people now think Labour is divided, down from 65 per cent a few months back.
Some Brexiteers have claimed that the move towards a two year deal - which would be likely to accept freedom of movement in some form - would be a mark for overturning the referendum result.
Tory MP Peter Bone said any talk of a transitional deal was purely speculation at the moment.
He told Radio 4's World at One programme: "Free movement has to end no later than the 31 March 2019. I think most Conservative MPs would say that, I think the country would say that, and I think the Prime Minister would say that.
"People want to be able to control immigration. They want a British immigration policy and that is what we are going to get.
"If you are saying a transitional deal means free movement for another two, four, six years, that is absolutely unacceptable."
Backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said last night that it would effectively mean we are still in the EU.
He told the BBC's Newsnight: "If we are subject to the rules of the single market and the regulations of the single market, and subject to the fiat of the European Court of Justice, we are paying for the privilege and we can't do free trade deals with the rest of the world, then we are in the EU."
Andrew Rosindell, the Tory MP for Romford, told the Telegraph: "When the British people voted to leave the EU, they voted to end open borders and control who comes into the UK. The British people voted for Brexit and they expect Brexit to happen, in full on time."
Interim Ukip leader, Steve Crowther said it would be a betrayal of the Brexit vote. He said: "Since the election, Theresa May is badly holed and unseaworthy, and the Remainer Philip Hammond – who was on his way out of the door before June 8th – now sees an opportunity to fudge, delay and obfuscate until the end of the current Parliament, to try and get the decision reversed."
