Jacob Rees-Mogg admits 'doubts' about Theresa May and accuses PM of 'abject weakness' over Brexit

Jacob Rees-Mogg has admitted for the first time he has “doubts” about Theresa May as he accused her of “abject weakness” over Brexit.

The leading Brexiteer and chairman of the influential European Research Group of Tory MPs attacked the Prime Minister’s negotiating strategy as he claimed the Government was “preparing for failure” rather than success.

He said Mrs May’s preferred post-Brexit customs arrangement of a customs partnership with the European Union would amount to the the UK “effectively remaining” in the bloc.

Mr Rees-Mogg claimed the Government’s “backstop” plan to temporarily keep the UK closely tied to the customs union if its new arrangements are not ready by the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020 was “essentially a trap”.

He also took aim at a commitment to pay a Brexit divorce bill - worth an estimated £39billion - as he said the money had been “given away with nothing in return” and that the Government needed to show some “backbone” during negotiations.

“I fear we are getting to the point where you wonder whether the Government really wants to leave at all,” he said.

Mr Rees-Mogg has previously been critical of the Government’s handling of Brexit but his admission he now has “doubts” about Mrs May is likely to raise eyebrows in Downing Street.

Asked if he had lost faith in the Prime Minister, he told the Conservative Home website: “That would be a harsh way of putting it. No, I am not going that far. But I have doubts. I have doubts that what she says is still fine and what she does is not delivering on what she says and that inevitably raises concerns.”

Mr Rees-Mogg said a crunch EU summit in Brussels in June would provide Mrs May with the perfect opportunity to match her actions to her words.

A Cabinet row over the UK’s post-Brexit customs arrangements continues to rage with ministers split between the customs partnership and the alternative maximum facilitation model.

Mr Rees-Mogg said the customs partnership, which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of the EU, would mean Britain “not leaving the single market and the customs union” and would represent a “considerable failure of government policy”.

“It is one of those ideas that before anybody had thought it through sounded quite attractive but on any detailed analysis is effectively remaining in the European Union and I am surprised that the Prime Minister is still plodding on with this not very satisfactory idea,” he said.

The MP for North East Somerset criticised the Government’s preparations for a “backstop” customs option.

He said: "For the Government to be preparing for failure two-and-a-half years before the point at which they ought to be ready is just weak.

"The Government should prepare for success and if they find shortly beforehand that they need a fallback position that is when it should be drawn up.

"But to go into the negotiations, to say to Mr Barnier 'we will kowtow before you in every way you possibly want if we cannot get everything ready by the due date' encourages him to say 'oh well just kowtow, I'm quite happy' and make no effort to come to a sensible agreement. I think it is a sign of abject weakness."

He said the “backstop” would make the UK a “vassal state” of Brussels.

“I’m afraid this backstop is becoming very attractive for the European Union not to offer us anything further and therefore it is essentially a trap,” he said.

Mr Rees-Mogg also called for the UK to make better use of the Brexit divorce bill during negotiations in order to secure a good trade deal with the EU.

He said: “The money is our strongest card and it seems at the moment to have been given away with nothing in return so I think we need some backbone in these negotiations and we need the Government to recognise that there is strength in its position.”

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has made clear we are taking back control of our laws borders and money and we are making good progress on that.”