Benutzer:Oltsw/Artikelentwurf

Chequers — the official country residence of the Prime Minister since 1921, where the Brexit proposals were agreed by the Cabinet.

The Chequers plan, also known as the Chequers deal, Chequers agreement or simply Chequers, is a key white paper concerning Brexit, published 12 July 2018 by the UK Government under Prime Minister, Theresa May. It lays out the type of relationship the UK seeks to have with the European Union after Brexit. Its official title is The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Brexit Secretary), Dominic Raab, described it as a "detailed proposal for a principled, pragmatic and ambitious future partnership between the UK and the EU." He also stated that "The white paper proposes a free trade area for goods to maintain frictionless trade, supported by a common rulebook and a new facilitated customs arrangement, but only for the rules that are necessary to provide frictionless trade at the border."

The white paper was finalised at a meeting of the UK Cabinet held at Chequers on 6 July 2018. Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resigned in opposition to the plan.

Structure

The white paper is split into four chapters: economic partnership, security, cooperation and institutional arrangements.

As described by The New York Times, the Chequers plan

... calls for free trade in goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland and a complicated technical fix to the customs issue, including the collection of European Union duties by British officials.

...

... France and Germany ... worry about any diminution in a Brexit deal of the “four freedoms” that are the basis for the European Union — including the single market for seamless trade and freedom of movement and labor.

Subsequent resignations

David Davis, Brexit Secretary at the time of the Chequers meeting, resigned over the agreement on 8 July, as the next day did his Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Steve Baker, and the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson served as Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018, but resigned over the Chequers plan in protest at Theresa May's proposals.

On 18 July 2018, Boris Johnson delivered his resignation speech to the House of Commons. In his speech he avoided personal attacks on Theresa May, although he asserted that ministers were "saying one thing to the EU about what we are really doing, and pretending another to the electorate". Instead of adhering to the Lancaster House Vision set out in January 2017, Johnson said, "a fog of self doubt [had] descended" and that the government "burned through negotiating capital". He later added that "it is not too late to save Brexit. We have time in these negotiations. We have changed tack once and we can change once again". The speech received notable attention, with many noting its similarities to the 1990 resignation speech of Sir Geoffrey Howe as Deputy Prime Minister, which contributed to the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC noted the seriousness of the speech, stating that "it's the first Boris Johnson speech that I can remember watching that didn't have any jokes", while Jacob Rees-Mogg, a pro-Brexit MP and leader of the European Research Group, praised the speech, describing it as "the speech of a statesman".

Johnson continues to speak out against Theresa May and the Chequers plan through both writings and the spoken word, including a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph and one in The Mail on Sunday, where he recently wrote in response to the EU's chief negotiator. He said, "We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier."

Further reading

• Staff writer: Brexit: Cabinet agrees 'collective' stance on future EU deal In: BBC News, 7 July 2018 
• Laura Kuenssberg: What's the Brexiteers' alternative plan? In: BBC News, 5 September 2018 
• Staff writer: 80 Tory MPs prepared to vote against PM's Chequers plan, says ex-Brexit minister Steve Baker In: Sky News, 10 September 2018