Johnson: Leaving EU without deal would be failure

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson insisted yesterday a new Brexit deal can be reached to ensure Britain leaves the European Union by the October 31 deadline, as he acknowledged that withdrawing without one would be a “failure” for which he’d be partially to blame.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned Johnson that “there’s no such thing as a clean break,” and if Britain crashed out, it would “cause severe disruption for British and Irish people alike.” The two leaders met in Dublin as a showdown between the British government and lawmakers was reaching a climax in London. An opposition-backed measure designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit on October 31 became law after receiving the formal assent of Queen Elizabeth II, hours before legislators were set to reject Johnson’s demand for a snap election to break the political deadlock engulfing the government.

The government yesterday suspended Parliament for five weeks to try to curb rebellious lawmakers who have played havoc with Johnson’s Brexit plans. Johnson, who insists Britain must leave the 28-nation EU in just over 50 days, come what may, said in Dublin that leaving without an agreement on divorce terms “would be a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible.”

Johnson said he would “overwhelmingly prefer to find an agreement” and believed a deal could be struck by October 18, when EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels.

After their first meeting since Johnson became prime minister in July, the UK and Irish leaders said they’d had “a positive and constructive meeting,” but there was no breakthrough on the issue of the Irish border, the main stumbling block to a Brexit deal.

The EU says Britain has not produced any concrete proposals for replacing the contentious “backstop,” a provision in the withdrawal agreement reached by Johnson's predecessor Theresa May that is designed to ensure an open border between EU member Ireland, and the UK’s Northern Ireland.

An open border is crucial to the regional economy and underpins the peace process that ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Opposition to the backstop was a key reason Britain’s Parliament rejected May’s Brexit deal with the EU three times earlier this year. British Brexitbackers oppose the backstop because it locks Britain into EU trade rules to avoid customs checks, something they say will stop the UK from striking new trade deals with countries such as the United States.

(AP)