Britain's trade minister Liam Fox said on Tuesday that the country must leave the EU customs union to strike new trade deals after Brexit. Fox's words came a day after the opposition Labour Party said it would seek to continue the tariff-free union membership, widening a major rift within British politics over future trade relations.

LIAM FOX BRITAIN'S INTERNATIONAL TRADE SECRETARY "The alternative has been proposed that we enter a new customs union with the European Union. But what would this mean? First of all, for goods, we would have to accept EU trade rules without any say in how they were made, hand in Brussels considerable control of the UK's external trade policy. Secondly, it would limit our ability to reach new trade agreements with the world's fastest-growing economies. Whatever it covered, should such a customs union be negotiated we would be forced to allow goods from other countries into our markets tariff-free on terms set by Brussels without any tariff-free access to the markets of other countries in return, and if we were to disagree, Brussels could simply overrule us. As rule takers, without any say in how the rules were made, we would be in a worse position than we are today. It would be a complete sellout of Britain's national interest and a betrayal of the voters in the referendum."