The Environment Secretary Michael Gove has defended Boris Johnson’s criticism of the Prime Minister’s proposed ‘customs partnership’ ideal in a recent Daily Mail interview, and told Nick Robinson that the proposal ‘has flaws’. Gove and Johnson are reported to be in favour of a ‘maximum facilitation’ arrangement (or ‘Max Fac’) which would make use of technology and trusted trader schemes to help ensure a relatively open border with Ireland post-Brexit:
NR: You’re on a cabinet working group to deal with this so-called customs partnership. Boris Johnson calls it ‘crazy’. Is he right?
MG: …In the interview that Boris gave to the Daily Mail, he pointed out some of the flaws with the new customs partnership, and across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect. And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because it’s novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time.
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