Will Chequers plan be abandoned after Brexit?
Michael Gove says May’s deal is ‘the right one for now’ but could be altered by a future PM

Michael Gove is urging MPs to support Theresa May’s controversial Chequers plan, claiming the deal could be undone once the UK has left the European Union.
The environment secretary, one of the leading members of the Vote Leave campaign, signed up to the prime minister’s Brexit plan at her Chequers retreat in July. Fellow Cabinet Brexiteers David Davis and Boris Johnson quit days later in protest at the proposal, which would see Britain accept EU rules on goods while setting its own standards for services.
However, Gove told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that the plan is the “right one for now” - before caveating that “a future prime minister could always choose to alter the relationship between Britain and the European Union”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He called on other MPs to see through Britain’s exit rather than risk an impasse in Parliament, or a general election, saying that the UK has to “take advantage of the opportunities of being outside the European Union”.
Admitting that he was unhappy with parts of the proposal, Gove added: “I have to qualify one or two of my views. I have to acknowledge the parliamentary arithmetic.”
Politico’s Jack Blanchard believes that Gove - one of the “more pragmatic Brexiteers” - aims to “get Britain out of the EU by whatever means necessary and then attempt to loosen ties with Brussels at some future time... presumably when the Tories actually have a decent majority in Parliament”.
Housing Minister Kit Malthouse also appears to endorse that tactic. Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last night, Malthouse said: “I think it [the Chequers plan] gets us over the line. And as far as I’m concerned as a Leave voter, it’s sufficient for the moment, given the maths in Parliament.”
Gove’s intervention came hours before former Cabinet colleague Boris Johnson launched yet another broadside against the proposals, suggesting that ministers had been misled about the implications of the Irish backstop agreement.
The British government agreed last December that if the EU was not satisfied with the arrangements for the border, Northern Ireland would become part of the EU customs union and large parts of its single market. In his now weekly excoriation of May’s plan in his column for The Daily Telegraph, Johnson writes that ministers had been told it was “only hypothetical… we were taken in”.
By agreeing to the Irish backstop, he continues, May has paved the way for a “spectacular political car crash”. Johnson calls the Chequers plan a “constitutional abomination” and says that any deal must allow “gradual regulatory divergence between the UK and Ireland”.
In a bid to counter such concerns, Downing Street is “seeking a political declaration on the future EU-UK relationship which states the Irish backstop plan will never be needed, and that both sides will negotiate a free trade area between the EU and the whole UK”, says the Financial Times.
However, the declaration “would not be legally binding”, and officials “are searching for a legally operative backstop in case no free trade area is agreed”, adds the newspaper.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Not there yet: The frustrations of the pocket AI
Feature Apple rushes to roll out its ‘Apple Intelligence’ features but fails to deliver on promises
By The Week US Published
-
George Foreman: The boxing champ who reinvented home grills
Feature He helped define boxing’s golden era
By The Week US Published
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Trump vows 25% tariffs on EU at Cabinet meeting
Speed Read The tariff threats serve to enhance a growing suspicion that the president views Europe as an adversary, not an ally
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why are Europe's leaders raising red flags about Trump's Ukraine overtures to Putin?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Officials from across the continent warn that any peace plan without their input is doomed from the start
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Left on read: Labour's WhatsApp dilemma
Talking Point Andrew Gwynne has been sacked as health minister over messages posted in a Labour WhatsApp group
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will Keir Starmer have to choose between the EU and the US?
Today's Big Question Starmer's 'reset' with the EU will focus on 'defence for trade' but an 'EU-hating' president in the White House could cause the PM trouble
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
New Year's Honours: why the controversy?
Today's Big Question London Mayor Sadiq Khan and England men's football manager Gareth Southgate have both received a knighthood despite debatable records
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is there a Christmas curse on Downing Street?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer could follow a long line of prime ministers forced to swap festive cheer for the dreaded Christmas crisis
By The Week UK Published
-
Will Starmer's Brexit reset work?
Today's Big Question PM will have to tread a fine line to keep Leavers on side as leaks suggest EU's 'tough red lines' in trade talks next year
By The Week UK Published