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In a speech delivered to French business leaders on Wednesday afternoon, Lidington, who in effect serves as May’s deputy, warned it was too late to go back to the drawing board.
“With exactly seven months until the end of the article 50 process and less than two months ahead of the October European council we face the choice between the pragmatic proposals we are discussing now with the European commission, or no deal,” he said.
His speech amounted to the clearest explanation by a senior minister of why the government believes the Chequers approach, with its common rulebook for goods and looser relationship for services, is the right one – and what the risks of rejecting it would be.
Stressing the common values and interests of the UK and France, he said: “I truly feel that we are at a fork in the road. There are trends on both sides of the Channel, both sides of the North Sea, and both sides of the Atlantic that could see us drift apart.”
Lidington underlined the “hard-fought compromise” made to reach the government’s current position – including the resignation of two cabinet ministers – and said “the alternative models do not meet the level of ambition or the outcome we all want to see delivered”. [...]