Clean Brexit boost as Theresa May rightly includes all cabinet Brexiteers in EU negotiation planning

Clean Brexit boost as Theresa May rightly includes all cabinet Brexiteers in EU negotiation planning

A leaked Government list obtained by POLITICO has revealed the full makeup of Theresa May’s Brexit cabinet committee – the sub-committee within the cabinet which will take the lead on the Government’s Brexit negotiations.

In a development which gives one of the clearest signals to date that the Government does intend to implement a clean Brexit, the committee includes all of the current cabinet ministers who campaigned for a Leave vote in the referendum – Brexit Secretary David Davis, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom, International Development Secretary Priti Patel, and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The other six permanent positions on the committee are filled by ministers who backed Remain, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Theresa May herself, whilst the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are each listed as attending “as required”.

Its decisions carry the same authority as full cabinet decisions, and it is believed to have met at least three times already, according to POLITICO. The committee will play a crucial role in the Brexit negotiations, as well as looking at the wider issue of Britain’s global trade strategy after leaving the European Union.

The inclusion of all the prominent Leave campaigners now in the cabinet ensures an even balance between Leavers and Remainers at the heart of the Government’s decision making process on Brexit.

As numerous cabinet ministers have said, “we are all Brexiteers now”. Nonetheless, it was Leave campaigners who delivered the referendum result, providing the democratic mandate for Government to withdraw the United Kingdom from the EU.

It is therefore a strong affirmation of the democratic exercise that took place that those ministers who won the mandate for Brexit should be instrumental in helping to deliver it.

In practical terms, it is perhaps the most concrete indication yet that the Government is targeting a clean Brexit in the negotiations, rather than a fudged halfway house which risks keeping Britain under the authority of the European Court of Justice and Commission.

List in full:

Theresa May, Prime Minister (Remain)
Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Remain)
Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary (Leave)
Amber Rudd, Home Secretary (Remain)
David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Leave)
Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary (Leave)
Greg Clark, Business Secretary (Remain)
Damian Green, Work and Pensions Secretary (Remain)
Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary (Leave)
Andrea Leadsom, Environment Secretary (Leave)
Priti Patel, International Development Secretary (Leave)
Patrick McLoughlin, Conservative Party Chairman/Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Remain)

As required:

David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland (Remain)
Alun Cairns, Secretary of State for Wales (Remain)
James Brokenshire, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Remain)