BREXIT secretary David Davis is likely to keep his job in the Prime Minister’s reshuffle, despite reports he had been sidelined in negotiations with the EU last month.
The news came as Davis warned Brussels not to “cherry-pick” the terms of a trade deal between the EU and post-Brexit Britain.
The Tory said the UK must have “the full sweep of economic co-operation” and there must be “working together, not simply rule taking”.
In response Scottish Brexit minister Michael Russell tweeted: “David, that is called ‘membership’.”
It was Theresa May’s personal negotiator, Olly Robbins, who at the end of last year brokered the deal between London, Brussels, Belfast and Dublin that allowed May to move beyond the first stage. Davis remained in London.
Robbins had previously worked in Davis’s Brexit department, but left for Number 10. He is one of a number of staffers at the department to have left.
The Tory minister’s tenure has often been shambolic. His claim to have conducted 58 detailed Brexit studies unravelled spectacularly last month.
He also nearly scuppered the first-stage deal negotiated by Robbins by seemingly suggesting it wasn’t binding but merely a “statement of intent” – a comment that infuriated Dublin.
According to one report, friends of Davis said that before Christmas he was contemplating the possibility that someone else might conclude the negotiations in 2018.
The sources said he was frustrated at how Robbins had assumed a more central role.
However, May is reportedly keen for Davis to continue as Brexit Secretary.
She is expected to reshuffle her team later this month, with senior Conservatives saying she is unlikely to move Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson or Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Jeremy Hunt is tipped for a move from health and could replace the disgraced Damian Green, who was told to resign after becoming embroiled in the Westminster sexual harassment scandal.
Green’s role included negotiating with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Brexit.
David Mundell is likely to remain in the Scotland Office, becoming one of the longest-serving ministers in May’s Cabinet.
Responding to Davis’s comments about “cherry-picking”, Russell told The National: “The Scottish Government’s position remains clear – the best outcome for jobs and living standards is for the whole of the UK to continue to work together with our fellow EU members as part of the single market and customs union.
“However, if that is not possible Scotland should, like Northern Ireland, be entitled to a special arrangement.
“We know a hard Brexit poses a severe threat to jobs, the economy, and communities across the whole of the UK.”
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