Chequers Agreement
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The Chequers plan, officially known as ''The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union (Cm 9593)'', was a
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white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
concerning
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
, published on 12July 2018 by the
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
,
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
. The paper was based on a three-page cabinet agreement from 6July 2018 and laid out the type of future relationship between the UK and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) that the UK sought to achieve in the
Brexit negotiations Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms for Brexit, the planned withdrawal of the UK from the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of the United ...
. At the time it was anticipated that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 29 March 2019. In July 2018, former
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union or, informally, Brexit Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the business of the Department for Exiting the Europ ...
(Brexit Secretary),
Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 to ...
, described it as a "detailed proposal for a principled, pragmatic and ambitious future partnership between the UK and the EU". He also stated that "the white paper proposes a
free trade area A free-trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers, import quotas and tariffs, and ...
for goods to maintain frictionless trade, supported by a common rulebook and a new facilitated customs arrangement, but only for the rules that are necessary to provide frictionless trade at the border." The white paper was finalised at a meeting of the UK Cabinet held at
Chequers Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Bucking ...
on 6July 2018. Brexit Secretary, David Davis, and
Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
,
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, resigned in opposition to the plan. The plan was rejected by the EU in September 2018.


Proposals

The white paper was divided into fourchapters: economic partnership, security, cooperation and institutional arrangements. The plan aimed to hold the UK in a close relationship with the EU, stating that the new relationship be "broader in scope than any other that exists between the EU and a third country". This would be done by establishing a new
association agreement A European Union Association Agreement or simply Association Agreement (AA) is a treaty between the European Union (EU), its Member States and a non-EU country that creates a framework for co-operation between them. Areas frequently covered by su ...
. Continued access to the European Single Market for goods and a common rulebook on state aid would be agreed, preventing either side from subsidising their own industries. For its part, the UK would commit to maintaining high environmental, climate change, social, employment and consumer protection standards. When presenting the plan, May addressed the
Irish border question The impact of Brexit on the Irish border and its adjacent polities involves changes in trade, customs, immigration checks, local economies, services, recognition of qualifications, medical cooperation, and other matters, now that it is the o ...
, stating that there would be no hard border between
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and no border in the UK". A "facilitated customs agreement" would remove the need for customs checks by treating the UK and EU "as if a combined customs territory". The UK would apply the EU's tariffs and trade policy on goods intended for the bloc but would control its own tariffs and trade for the domestic market. This differed from a "Canada-plus" deal favoured by the Conservative backbench
European Research Group The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The journalist Sebastian Payne described it in the ''Financial Times'' as "the most influential e ...
, which would not apply EU tariffs on goods bound for the EU and therefore may threaten such tariffs if countries use lower tariffs in the UK to facilitate tariff-free access with EU countries, undermining EU tariffs; however, it was seen as likely that such a scenario would require a hard border on the island of Ireland as technological solutions to the Irish border questions are not yet available.


Reactions and resignations

The proposals gained minimal support from Conservative politicians or leaders of EU member states. In the summer of 2018, May met German Chancellor
Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
as well as French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
in order to garner support for the proposals from her French and German counterparts. May favoured a policy of "managed divergence" from the EU. This policy was explicitly rejected in September 2018, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator,
Michel Barnier Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Task ...
, said that the integrity of the European Single Market was "not negotiable", and that there can be no "
cherry picking Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...
" of the market's fourfreedoms: free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Chequers supported staying in the Single Market for goods, but not the other three freedoms. This had been rejected by the President of the
European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the E ...
(
Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...
) and Barnier before it was in the Chequers deal, as well as on numerous dates from 20 July to 21 September 2018. The EU opposed such divergence as it feared that offering favorable deals to Britain might encourage other
member states A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...
to follow Britain's example. Tusk said that the deal was "a step in the right direction", and that there were "positive elements" of the proposal, but added that "the suggested element for economic cooperation will not work, not least because it risks undermining the single market". May, on the other hand, said that Britain needs to see more counter-proposals from the EU. Davis, Brexit Secretary at the time of the
Chequers Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Bucking ...
meeting, resigned over the agreement on 8July, as did Davis'
parliamentary under-secretary Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister o ...
, Steve Baker.
Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
,
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
followed him the next day. In his resignation speech of 18July, Johnson said the government allowed "a fog of self-doubt" to fall on its negotiations. The speech received notable attention, and BBC political reporter
Laura Kuenssberg Laura Juliet Kuenssberg (born 8 August 1976) is a British journalist who currently presents the BBC's flagship Sunday morning politics show. She succeeded Nick Robinson as political editor of BBC News in July 2015, and was the first woman to ...
said it was "the first Boris Johnson speech that I can remember watching that didn't have any jokes".


Result of negotiations

In November 2018, the
Brexit negotiations Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms for Brexit, the planned withdrawal of the UK from the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of the United ...
concluded with a
Withdrawal Agreement The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...
and a Political Declaration; this included a "commitment to frictionless trade in goods through a common rulebook, the centrepiece of the Chequers plan." The outcome needs support from the UK parliament and the EU leaders. May described the political declaration as "right for the whole of the UK".
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
, Labour Party's
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
, described the political declaration as "26pages of waffle". The leaders from the remaining twenty-sevenEU countries endorsed the draft.


See also

* Brexit plan *
Norway-plus model In British politics, the "Norway-plus model" was a proposal for a post-Brexit settlement, which the British government did not pursue. Proposed in November 2018 as an alternative to the Chequers plan, it would have consisted of membership of the ...
* Canada model * Turkey model *
No-deal Brexit A no-deal Brexit (also called clean break BrexitBBC. (2019)''Brexit: Jargon-busting guide to the key terms'' (BBC) Retrieved 29 March 2019.) was the potential withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (EU) without a withdrawal ...
*
People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...


References


Further reading

* * * {{Brexit referendum 2018 documents 2018 in international relations 2018 in the United Kingdom Brexit-related agreements White papers