Hammond And Boris Are Playing 'Games', Says PM's Ex-Aide

PM is set to offer Brussels £20bn for two-year transition deal after Cabinet FINALLY signs off on key Brexit speech and puts on show of unity after fresh bout of infighting....
Theresa May is set to offer Brussels £20billion for a two-year transition deal after the Cabinet finally signed off on her crucial Brexit speech.

Ministers left Downing Street after a marathon two and a half hour meeting insisting they were fully behind the Prime Minister's bid to force a breakthrough in negotiations.

To underline the agreement on a financial package linked to a transition and 'bespoke' trade arrangements, Boris Johnson and Chancellor Philip Hammond walked out of the building together.

The pair have been at loggerheads over the approach to Brexit - with the Foreign Secretary sparking chaos this week before finally backing down on an apparent threat to resign.

Mrs May will use the address in Florence tomorrow to go over the heads of Eurocrats such as Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier to send a message to leaders of member states.

In a bid to kickstart the Brexit talks, Mrs May is expected to make an 'open and generous' offer to fill the gaping hole in the bloc's finances left by the UK's departure with £20billion of funding until the end of 2020.

Without giving a specific figures, she is expected to insist that no country will lose out over that period.

But in return for that commitment, Mrs May is set to demand the EU agrees to a two-year transition deal keeping full access to the single market, and good trade terms afterwards.

She is also expected to rule out an 'off the shelf' trade deal after we leave, saying the arrangements in place with Canada and Switzerland respectively would not suit the UK.

But the idea has already been rejected by Mr Barnier, who gave his own speech in Italy today suggesting the UK would have to choose one of the existing 'models'.

Ministers were handed the text of the speech when they arrived for Cabinet this morning and given half an hour to read it, before Mrs May went round the table and asked for views.

The run-up to the crucial intervention has been overshadowed by frantic manoeuvring by different Brexit factions within the Cabinet.

Mrs May's former chief of staff lashed out at Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond today for putting negotiations at risk with pointless 'games'.

Nick Timothy also complained that the Treasury is talking down the UK's prospects by failing to consider the 'positives' of cutting ties with Brussels.
Emerging from No10 this afternoon, Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke told journalists the PM had 'the backing of the Cabinet, of all of us'.

Mrs May returned from New York overnight, where she used the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly to hold talks with key EU counterparts.

The plans for the speech were thrown into confusion this week after Mr Johnson published his personal Brexit manifesto, triggering a round of infighting within the ministerial ranks.

Mr Barnier was appointed by the EU commission to lead talks, and has insisted all formal discussions must come through him.

But Mrs May highlighted the role that would be played by the individual leaders - some of whom she held talks with while at the UN.

Before the New York talks Mrs May said: 'The negotiations are structured within the EU so of course the Council has delegated with a mandate to the commission, and the commission has appointed Michel Barnier.

'But the decision will always be one that will be taken by the leaders.'

In the margins of the New York gathering, Mrs May met French president Emmanuel Macron, Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni and the Netherlands' Mark Rutte, although Downing Street did not say whether Brexit was on the agenda for the talks.

Mrs May's speech in Florence tomorrow will be scrutinised in Westminster and Brussels before a further round of negotiations starting next week in Brussels.

The premier has chose the Santa Maria Novella church as the venue, an imposing 13th-century building which is closely associated with the Renaissance.

The speech has also taken on increased significance in terms of party management following Mr Johnson's intervention.

The Foreign Secretary was forced to deny he was planning to resign, while Mrs May faced calls for her to sack him from her Cabinet after he published a 4,000 Brexit blueprint.

Writing in the Telegraph today, Mr Timothy warned: 'Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond - who has also been on Brexit manoeuvres this summer - must understand that the surest route to a bad deal, or no deal at all, is to go on behaving as they are.'

He also accused Mr Hammond's Treasury of failing to promote the positives of Brexit.

The Chancellor's department had failed to emphasise the 'opportunities of Brexit'.