Tonight he was on Radio 4’s PM programme saying that it was really important that we started to see some detail from the Government on its plans for Britain’s exit from the EU. We need, he said, a very detailed plan to extricate ourselves from the complex web of economic and legal ties between us and the EU.

He said that if the Government wanted to retain the closest possible ties with the single market, their own backbenchers would kick off.

You can listen to his interview here from about 39:30.

In a piece for the i newspaper, Nick pointed out a few discrepancies between what the Tories say they want and the likelihood of it happening without compromise:

Theresa May can’t, for example, promise that we will be able to enjoy all the benefits to our economy that full access to the world’s largest borderless single market will bring, without accepting freedom of movement in return. So which is it? What matters more – our economy and jobs or clamping down on immigration?

David Davis, Theresa May’s new Brexit minister, appears to believe the single market is just a free trade arrangement. It isn’t. Free trade means removing tariffs so that companies can trade without paying different levels of tax on the goods they buy and sell. But the single market is much more ambitious. It is about harmonising all the standards and regulations that apply to goods and services across Europe, so that companies can trade with each other on a truly level playing field.

So it’s good that someone is on the case. He sets out his own plans:

Whatever your views on Brexit, it is in everyone’s interest to make sure what happens next is debated openly and scrutinised properly.

That’s why, over the coming months, I will be working with academics, lawyers and other experts to hold the Government to account and to flush out the answers that British people need about their country, their economy and their futures. To do that, I’m prepared to work openly and collaboratively with people of all parties and anyone who believes that Britain must remain an open economy and a tolerant, outward-looking nation.

Fox, Davis and May should be very worried by Nick’s appointment. He has the expertise to hold their feet to the fire like nobody else in British politics.

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