Brexit – EU subs could go on for years

Allies of David Davis say their man has been bursting to talk more about what he sees as the emerging shape of the Brexit opening bid by the UK government. In No. 10 they insist nothing has been ruled in or out yet for these negotiations and they want to keep their options as open as possible for as long as possible.

So No. 10 won’t be dead chuffed to have heard the Brexit Secretary say in the Commons this morning  that Britain might consider paying into the EU after Brexit. The pound (briefly) surged on the news.  Philip Hammond, speaking to journalists in Scotland, backed David Davis up saying “we might want to contribute to some sort of mechanism.”

Some in Government think paying some hefty amounts into the EU could win the UK the perks of Single Market membership for financial services. Some think it’ll be lucky to trade cash for access for goods. Some in the EU say it won’t buy the UK either of these and you don’t get the Single Market without accepting all of its principles, including Freedom of Movement of Peoples.

There’s talk of disguising any payments into the EU. One minister said they could be branded as a “hypothecated business tax,” others talk of straight payments into specially branded funds that are made to look discreet from the main EU budget.

Some Brexiteers are not amused by Mr Davis’ words. Arron Banks of Leave.eu called them “incredibly foolish”.

But the calculation amongst some ministers is that voters would be ok with trading some cash if it meant looking after the nation’s economic interests. They’re guessing that if it meant some referendum pledges weren’t being honoured it could be others who made those pledges who cop the blame and not Mrs May, who was (just about) on the Remain side.

Boris Johnson, today at a conference in Rome, has been denying he ever told a breakfast meeting of European ambassadors that he was in favour of free movement of peoples.

He’s long been a self-proclaimed “pro-immigration” politician, something that was often thrown back at him in the EU referendum campaign. He says the EU ambassadors (4 of them spoken to by Sky News) have all mis-remembered the encounter.

I’ve heard several prominent Vote Leave figures speak in months past and more recently of how voters don’t mind skilled immigration and don’t mind more students coming here either. In short, the suggestion was, they don’t mind current net migration numbers if they know it’s people who pay their way. It wasn’t, you could argue, the tone of the public debate.

Similarly, some Leave campaigners argue, we could continue with contributions to the EU, not exactly the package voters were sold in powerful propaganda by the Leave campaigns, 0m a week on the NHS,)  but then this was all out political warfare (on one side at least).

You can see Boris heckling European Commissioner Frans Timmermans at a Rome Conference earlier today here, prompted by Mr Timmermans saying he hopes the UK will reconsider Brexit and stay in the EU after all.

On the subject of referendum all out war, you might want to read this blog by Dominic Cummings, the mastermind behind Vote Leave, in case you haven’t seen it.