Cabinet splits
The semblance of unity behind a “life-as-normal” Brexit didn’t last. Less than two days after Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond outlined a plan for a long transition after the March 2019 breakup, Cabinet colleagues began challenging the details . Trade Secretary Liam Fox used a Sunday Times interview to deny that ministers had agreed to allow European Union citizens to freely live, travel to, and work in the U.K. beyond the two-year negotiations. He argued doing so would “not keep faith” with voters’ decision to leave. Over in the Sunday Telegraph , economist Gerard Lyons , a former adviser to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, warned against “alarmist talk” and said any transition should last just two years, shorter than what Hammond has proposed. Former Brexit Minister David Jones told the Mail on Sunday that Remainers such as Hammond had used May’s holiday to “go on maneuvers.” The comments underscore the factions within May’s Cabinet and how they