Johnson wants an agreement similar to EU-Canada deal

The former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and main rival to Theresa May, yesterday demanded, just two days before the Tory Congress, that the prime minister withdraw her proposal for Brexit, known as the Chequers plan, and negotiate “a super-free trade agreement of the type Canada has with the EU” to “fulfill the mandate of people” in the 2016 referendum.

This super agreement should include “zero tariffs and zero quotas for all imports and exports, mutual recognition agreements that cover European and British regulations to ensure ”the conformity of goods with the standards of others, technological solutions to maintain operating supply chains and an agreement that covers goods and services.”

Johnson argues that it should be “relatively simple” to negotiate freedom of European air space and calls for a process to recognise mutual regulations and standards and the creation of a dispute mechanism in which no institution or side has supremacy over others.

The proposal is not new and has the support of a number of anti-May Conseravtive MPs as well as former ministers and economic think-tanks. Theresa May however, has said that she would prefer to leave without an agreement before signing one such as this.