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The former conservative attorney general who served in May’s cabinet referred to the former prime minister’s unpopular deal with the EU when calling for a change in Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy. Gauke was one of 21 rebel Conservative MPs who had their whip lifted last year for voting against the Boris Johnson government on a no-deal Brexit motion.
The former deputy failed to be reelected as an independent in the general elections last winter.
On Thursday, he took to Twitter to criticize Johnson’s decision to rule out an extension of the transition period, which expires on December 31.
He said that given the huge problems Britain and the EU face due to the coronavirus pandemic, more time is needed to negotiate a trade deal.
But he argued that even if the Brussels-London talks collapsed and there was no agreement, the transition period should still be extended so that both sides have time to prepare for the upcoming changes.
He tweeted: “I know this is spitting in the wind but given where we are with Covid both here and in most of the EU, ending the Brexit transition period on December 31 is ridiculous (deal or no deal)” .
She went on to discuss how Ms May had tried and failed to pass her Brexit deal in Parliament three times.
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Dominic Raab resigned as Brexit secretary in protest of the deal, saying he could not “conscientiously support the terms proposed” in the deal.
Ms May insisted that her agreement was fulfilled on the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum and was in the national interest.
The most controversial part of their deal was the so-called Irish “endorsement.”
The mechanism was aimed at preventing a return to a hard border in Ireland.
The policy would go into effect at the end of the Brexit transition period if both parties had not been able to reach a trade agreement that would keep the border open.
Under the backing, the entire UK would enter a “single customs territory” with the EU.
Gauke’s intervention comes as trade talks between the EU and the UK moved from London to Brussels on Thursday.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said that fishing rights and subsidies remain critical in the talks.
She said: “We are making good progress, but the two critical issues, level playing field and fisheries, we would like to see more progress.”
“We are now deeply immersed in how we would build a system that is fair to both parties … which is a sine qua non for the UK to have access to the single market free of tariffs and quotas.”
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