Ed's Brexit Round Up!

This week has seen quieter week due to parliamentary recess, however a few issues of note for members are below:

• Following last week’s mixed messages from Cabinet Members over freedom of movement post-Brexit, No 10 has stated that there will be no freedom of movement after March 2019 if no deal is agreed. Instead of providing new clarity to this position, No 10 instead referred back to the Prime Minister’s speech in January.
• Helen Ghosh, DG of the National Trust has called for UK agriculture to retain its £3bn level of financial support, stating that business uncertainty is encouraging farm business to take shorter term decisions in their business, at the expense of the environment.
• The influential centre-right think tank Policy Exchange has this week released a report, Farming Tomorrow, which recommends the UK unilaterally lowering tariffs with other countries after Brexit and removing all direct payment to farms. It also has suggested farms who go out of business should have their land used for housing.
• This week the Irish Government has stated that without the UK being part of a Customs Union, there cannot be an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. UK ministers have suggested that electronic surveillance of goods good be the answer, but this has been refuted by Dublin as being overly simplistic.