Chequers plan

The white paper was divided into fourchapters: economic partnership, security, cooperation and institutional arrangements. Continued access to the European single market for goods and a common rulebook on state aid would be agreed, preventing either side from subsidising their own industries. For its part, the UK would commit to maintaining high environmental, climate change, social, employment and consumer protection standards. When presenting the plan, May addressed the Irish border question, stating that there would be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and no border in the UK". A "facilitated customs agreement" would remove the need for customs checks by treating the UK and EU "as if a combined customs territory". The UK would apply the EU's tariffs and trade policy on goods intended for the bloc but would control its own tariffs and trade for the domestic market. ==Reactions and resignations==

, who served as Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018, resigned over the Chequers agreement The proposals gained minimal support from Conservative politicians or leaders of EU member states. In the summer of 2018, May met German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as French President Emmanuel Macron in order to garner support for the proposals from her French and German counterparts. May favoured a policy of "managed divergence" from the EU. This policy was explicitly rejected in September 2018, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that the integrity of the European Single Market was "not negotiable", and that there can be no "cherry picking" of the market's fourfreedoms: free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Chequers supported staying in the Single Market for goods, but not the other three freedoms. The EU opposed such divergence as it feared that offering favorable deals to Britain might encourage other member states to follow Britain's example. Tusk said that the deal was "a step in the right direction", and that there were "positive elements" of the proposal, but added that "the suggested element for economic cooperation will not work, not least because it risks undermining the single market". May, on the other hand, said that Britain needs to see more counter-proposals from the EU. Davis, Brexit Secretary at the time of the Chequers meeting, resigned over the agreement on 8July, as did Davis' parliamentary under-secretary, Steve Baker. Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson followed him the next day. == Result of negotiations ==

In November 2018, the Brexit negotiations concluded with a Withdrawal Agreement and a Political Declaration; this included a "commitment to frictionless trade in goods through a common rulebook, the centrepiece of the Chequers plan." The outcome needs support from the UK parliament and the EU leaders. May described the political declaration as "right for the whole of the UK". Leader of the Opposition, Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn, described the political declaration as "26pages of waffle". The leaders from the remaining twenty-sevenEU countries endorsed the draft. == See also ==