Theresa May's Brexit deal would put 'border checks and controls' on trade with EU, leak shows

There would be “checks and controls” on trade between Britain and the EU under the final Brexit deal offered to Theresa May by Brussels, a leaked final draft of the agreement shows.

The prime minister travelled to Brussels on Wednesday night in the hope of securing concessions from the EU to placate her rebellious MPs, who are threatening to vote down the agreement.

A final draft of the unreleased document seen by The Independent shows the EU has agreed to soften some of its language – with nods to Ms May’s earlier rejected Chequers proposals included.

But the overall shape of the agreement, which lays the groundwork for Britain’s relationship with the EU for decades to come, is mostly unchanged – with warnings of border checks and new bureaucracy that the prime minister said she wanted to avoid.

Last week negotiators on both sides said they had struck a withdrawal agreement that would govern the UK's departure from the bloc – covering issues like Nothern Ireland, the divorce bill, and citizens' rights. A separate document outlining what the future trading relationship between Britain and the EU will look like was however still being worked on.

It is understood that this latest leaked draft has been approved by the European Commission, but still requires the 27 EU member states to sign off on it. Countries including France, Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands have already raised concerns that earlier drafts of the plan gives too much away to the UK.

The new agreement reached between the Commission and UK says the deal would have “implications for checks and controls” on trade between the UK and EU, which currently do not exist. It spells out that the extent and nature of these impediments to trade will vary depending on the extent to which Britain aligns its regulations and customs with the EU.

“The parties envisage that the extent of the United Kingdom’s commitments on customs and regulatory cooperation, including with regard to alignment of rules, would be taken into account in the application of related checks and controls, considering this as a factor in reducing risk,” the leaked final draft says.

“This, combined with the use of all available facilitative arrangements as described above, can lead to a spectrum of different outcomes for administrative processes as well as checks and controls, and note in this context their wish to be as ambitious as possible, while respecting the integrity of their respective markets and legal orders.”

The PM has ruled out membership of the EU single market or customs union, which Brussels has repeatedly said are required for frictionless trade. The prime minister’s so-called “Chequers” plan aimed to avoid border checks between Britain and the EU with a series of proposals, but was rejected as unworkable by the EU.

Nods to the defunct UK plan included in the draft include a reference to using "facilitative arrangements and technologies" to try and avoid customs bureaucracy.

It also promises that the countries will consider "trusted traders’ programmes, administrative cooperation in customs matters and mutual assistance, including for the recovery of claims related to taxes and duties" – another Tory eurosceptic demand aimed at avoiding border checks. But there are no firm commitments to actually implementing the ideas.

The document also speaks in vague terms about the parties’ “determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland” with “alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland”. Tory MPs and the DUP dislike the backstop, which they say could bind the UK into a customs union with the EU on an indefinite basis, and will put a border down the Irish sea.

But with the same document also saying checks and controls are expected in any future relationship, the clause to remove the backstop carries little actual weight.

Elsewhere in the plan, the EU and UK pledge to "build and improve on the single customs territory provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement which obviates the need for checks on rules of origin" – a suggestion that a customs union with the UK could become permanent, which has angered Tory MPs.

The overall agreement is vague – neither committing to closing down most options not taking them forward.

The prime minister is understood to have briefed Cabinet on the document at lunchtime on Thursday.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said: “I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators’ level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the leaders.”

If the EU27 leaders agree to the document they will meet with Theresa May in Brussels on Sunday to formally sign off the deal. The Prime Minister is expected to return to the EU capital on Saturday in a last-minute bid to smooth the deal's acceptance. If approved, it will then be put to the European Parliament and the UK Parliament for their approval, with its passage through the latter looking difficult.