A UK minister has resigned saying a row over involvement in the EU’s Galileo satellite-navigation system exposes Theresa May’s Brexit deal as “naive”.
The UK had wanted to stay part of Galileo after Brexit, but the EU said it would be banned from the extra-secure elements of the programme.
Mrs May confirmed on Friday that the UK was pulling out of the project.
Science minister Sam Gyimah said the row was “a clarion call” and that any deal with Brussels would be “EU first”.
The UK’s interests “will be repeatedly and permanently hammered by the EU27 for many years to come”, he added in a Facebook post setting out his reasons for resigning.
Mr Gyimah, who is the 10th minister to resign from the government since Mrs May set out her original proposals for leaving the EU at Chequers in July, also said he would be voting against the deal she had eventually negotiated with Brussels.
However, prominent Brexiteer and cabinet minister Michael Gove has defended Mrs May’s plan, writing in the Daily Mail that leaving the EU is under “great threat” if the deal is rejected by MPs.
