Documents Obtained by the Independent Detail Splits Emerging in Government Over Post Brexit Trade Policy

Brexit has been a process at the heart of British politics for years on end. After multiple referendums dealing not only with our status within the EU, but how we should leave it, debates haven't ended since we officially left the bloc.

As the end of the year deadline for a deal on our future relationship approaches, multiple issues have arisen within cabinet. Foremost among them is the Cross Border Taxation (Implementation and Combined Nomenclature) Act.

The piece of legislation in question is one of the core pillars of any future trade policy. It sets out the UK's commitment to a transition period, allowing issues around the Northern Irish border to have more time to resolve, as for the duration of its effect the UK remains in the Single Market and Customs Union. Post transition period, it sets out default tariff rates and trade approaches that the government can use as a baseline when negotiating with other countries. The bill was unanimously voted for by the parties currently comprising the government.

According to documents obtained by the Independent, at least one cabinet member now believes a full repeal is in order. BrexitGlory, the Secretary of State for Employment, Pensions, and Welfare, indicated they couldn't find "one good reason to keep the CBTA," describing it as "castrating post-Brexit Britain. Its like unilateral disarmament, its irrational, left wing, anti-Britain and it doesn't work."

Responding to the Libertarian Secretary of State for Housing, Local Government, and Regional Growth who claimed doing so would be a "u turn of the century." Mr Glory replied, "not really, it was over a year ago. We could crack on with it easily. Fixing past legislation is not the same as a drastic u-turn."

When asked if they stood by their stance, Mr Glory confirmed as such, stating their desire for repeal was "fully, entirely and immediately. That doesn't mean we will, it may make more sense to keep the legislation and work around a few specifics." When asked if they wished for this to occur before the transition period ended, they responded in the affirmative.

This stance is in contrast to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Friedmanite, who when asked to weigh in on the revelations replied that they "can't envisage the Libertarians supporting a repeal of this act."

The Labour Party's Acting Leader, Captainographer, responded that "BrexitGlory seems once again to be showing his protectionist side in these quotes. Obviously without the full context it's impossible to say for certain, but from these minutes it does seem like he's not the free trader he advertised himself to be at the general election," and they "hope the government makes the right decision and doesn't rush into anything rash."

Further into the trade talks, Mr Glory was asked if they could "show where the EU is a geopolitical enemy looking to destroy then buy all of our stuff." They said it was in the "fact that they aren't zeroing their tariffs, they spend twice as much as us on state aid." When asked to clarify if these comments were referencing the EU as a geopolitical enemy, Mr Glory told us;
"haha, no. What you have been shown is just a pre-selected snippet of discussions and doesn't fully reflect what happened. Indeed, this was clarified in cabinet afterwards - your sources have not been honest with you."

(no sources or minutes were provided by Mr Glory showing it was clarified in cabinet afterwards)

These comments elicited additional responses. The Deputy Prime Minister told the Independent that, "the EU are not a geopolitical enemy or comparable to China. The EU are our allies and I believe the best thing we can do is to strike a FTA.  The government has bold plans to take on China and these will be unveiled during the term. A trade war with the EU would be damaging and I wholeheartedly oppose one." The Acting Leader of the Labour Party told us that "the second set of minutes is particularly damning - the view that the EU is a geopolitical enemy is absolutely outrageous and, to paraphrase the man himself, is irrational, anti-Britain, and doesn't work."

One thing remains abundantly clear. The exit of the UK from the European Union was just the start of a long and controversial process in which politicians stake their claim to the type of future they want for UK foreign policy, and the views on that matter appear to be as diverse as they ever have been, even within a coalition government.

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