Sabine Weyand giving the game away could be fatal for May’s dire deal

We have reached that point in the arc of a Westminster crisis when a government is in such deep trouble that it is forced to rely on the most desperate of devices. I am referring to the deployment of the phrase “in the national interest” – a bogus concept which has been used as cover down the decades for politicians to make some of their worst decisions which (surprise, surprise) involve them remaining in office.

Theresa May’s supporters trying to push through her terrible deal (any bad deal is worse than no deal seems to be the message) are already saying voting for it is a must because it is in the “national interest.”

Unfortunately for the government, one of the key figures on the EU side has just given the game away. The Times revealed on Wednesday morning that Sabine Weyand, deputy to Michel Barnier, Europe’s negotiator, confirms that the customs union is the basis for the future relationship between the EU and the UK, and if a deal post-transition can’t be agreed then the UK defaults into staying for ever in an EU customs union.

This is the EU “taking back control”, according to gleeful Remainer and ex-politician turned Evening Standard editor George Osborne. The Standard splash today makes that point forcefully. He’s right for once.

The Times reported Weyand telling EU ambassadors:

“We should be in the best negotiation position for the future relationship. This requires the customs union as the basis of the future relationship,” Ms Weyand said. “They must align their rules but the EU will retain all the controls. They apply the same rules. UK wants a lot more from future relationship, so EU retains its leverage.”

Lord Hague tried to dismiss the comments by Weyand as emanating from someone cabinet ministers will not have heard of. That unwittingly revealed the appalling conduct of the talks by May. If cabinet ministers really don’t know who Weyand is then they should do. Yet the cabinet has allowed itself to be treated appallingly, being kept in the dark, by May and her officials until the very late stages.

The Times also reports that May has agreed to “level playing field” measures. The UK will be tied in to EU strictures on state aid and environmental and workers’ rights protections. She also said that Britain “would have to swallow a link between access to products and fisheries in future agreements.” All that is in in a leaked note of the meeting on Friday.

If sufficient cabinet ministers and MPs do grasp what this means, and manage to stop Theresa May’s deal, then the candid (albeit in secret) remarks by Weyand will have been central in crystallising the choice.

For her remarks reveal the truth that May is trying to hide. The EU has successfully – thanks to British incompetence and an unforgivable lack of leadership – has manoeuvred Britain into the most extraordinary position. The UK will follow all of the EU’s rules until December 2020, handing over £39bn during transition. But transition to what? The EU’s basis for a deal on future relationship during that period is British membership of a customs union, as Weyand says. Yet if no deal can be agreed, the UK agrees in May’s withdrawal deal to default to membership of an EUI customs union from which the UK has no right to give notice.

The EU if it wins on this has trapped the UK, a sovereign country, in an arrangement we can never leave. That’s the bottom line.