Did anyone meet/call/write to their MP today?

Yeah.

Damien Collins.

Thank you for your email about the draft withdrawal agreement.

I am not able to support the draft withdrawal agreement. My concerns are that it does not deliver the Brexit that people voted for, and that it could leave the UK locked into a relationship with the EU that would be worse than our current terms of membership.

I do not believe that this deal is the best we can do, and that therefore we should agree to it or run the risk of a chaotic hard Brexit in March next year. The terms of this agreement have not yet been finalised with the leaders of the other EU Member States, and in every European negotiation there is the opportunity for negotiation and amendment right up until the final moment before the deal must be done. We are not due to leave for another four months, so there is still time to improve on the agreement and get this right.

There are many concerns about the draft agreement that could be raised, but for me there is a fundamental issue that needs to be resolved before I could support it. The draft agreement proposes that there should be a transition period after we leave the EU on 29th March next year, lasting until 31st December 2020, where we remain in the Single Market and Customs Union if the negotiations for the future relationship are not complete. This transition can be extended if more time is needed and both sides agree, and failing that we would fall into a “backstop” arrangement until a future trade agreement is reached. During this backstop period, the UK would be part of a single customs territory with the EU, requiring us to remain aligned to their rules. Under the draft agreement, it is proposed that we would not be able to leave the backstop independently. I believe that this is totally unacceptable. This arrangement would also require different rules to operate in Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK, something that we had said we would not accept.

As an independent nation, we must retain the power to set the time limit for any period of transition out of the EU, and to end any backstop arrangements if a future trade deal has not been agreed. These decisions cannot be taken jointly with the EU, or other international assessors, as has been proposed in the draft agreement. In such a scenario, the EU would be able to lock us into its rules, which we would have absolutely no say in shaping, forever. It would be in the interests of the EU to do this. Without the guarantee of being able to unilaterally withdraw from the backstop, we run the risk of being permanently suspended in it, unable to fully leave the European Union.

There are some who say that we do not need a trade agreement with the EU and should just leave. We need to consider the effect this would have on our industries, as well as on our transport network as cross-Channel freight would be subject to massive disruption. In Kent, we know from bitter experience what impact any delays in the processing of road freight through the Port of Dover and Channel Tunnel will have. It would be far better to prepare for a transition to a new free trade agreement than to leave without one. We could also use the transition period to make more robust plans for alternative means of managing freight in and out of the UK in the event that a free trade agreement was not reached. I do not believe that we yet have the necessary infrastructure in place to do this, but with more time, we could.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write to me about this very important matter,

Kind regards,

Damian Collins MP

/r/ukpolitics Thread