No EU deal could block all-island healthcare

Sir Jeffrey says public interest demands PM outline details

THE DUP yesterday demanded that the Prime Minister publish legal advice on Brexit and the Irish border.

Theresa May (below) is under intense pressure to publish the advice behind her Brexit plan as Labour, Tory Eurosceptics and the DUP — whose 10 MPs prop up the Prime Minister’s administration in the Commons — lined up against her yesterday.

Legal advice is usually confidential, but DUP chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that if the House of Commons was going to have a meaningful vote on the deal then people should “know what that advice is”.

Sir Jeffrey denied he did not trust the Government, but said: “I think it’s in the public interest we understand fully what’s happening here.

“It’s because it affects the whole UK therefore it shouldn’t just be the DUP that sees this advice, or the Government.

“If the House of Commons is going to have a meaningful vote on a deal, upon which this legal advice is very, very important, then I think people are entitled to know what that advice is.”

Brexiteers, including Environment Secretary Michael Gove, want to see the full legal advice setting out how any customs arrangement to avoid a hard border could be ended to avoid it becoming a permanent settlement.

For Labour, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said it was “essential” that MPs should be able to see the advice drawn up by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman

Tom Brake said refusal to publish the advice “raises serious questions about what Tory ministers are trying to hide”.

In a development that will cause concern in Downing Street, a Tory European Research Group

(ERG) source indicated its

MPs “would be up for sharing the Attorney General’s wisdom” if Labour forced a Commons vote on the issue.

Pressure over the legal advice mounted as Cabinet ministers were invited to review the text of the withdrawal agreement which has so far been secured in negotiations with Brussels. The Prime Minister told MPs last month that 95% of the deal had been agreed, although the key sticking point of the backstop to prevent a hard Irish border remained unresolved.

A Downing Street source said: “That is just where we are so far. It does not imply that a deal has been done.”

The development will do little to dampen speculation among Tory Eurosceptics that a deal is close to being signed off.

Last night, Jacob Rees-Mogg raised concerns over Mrs May’s Cabinet being “bounced” into Brexit decisions, as he indicated “many dozens” of Tory MPs could oppose the Government’s deal.

The senior Tory MP, who chairs the Eurosceptic ERG, said he would vote against an extension of the customs union with the EU, adding he believed it Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and (below) the border would not be delivering on the party’s 2017 election pledge.

Mr Rees-Mogg also said legal advice behind the Government’s Brexit plan should “certainly be made available to Cabinet ministers” to ensure they know what they are signing up to, adding he is more concerned over whether the deal is good or bad rather than all MPs seeing such advice.

He went on to say: “So this is a secondary issue but cabinet government is very important and there is a concern that the Cabinet is not being fully involved in this, it’s getting information at a late stage, there is an appearance of it being bounced, you hear of ministers getting 45 minutes to read crucial documents before Cabinet meetings; this is not a serious constitutional approach.”

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar cast doubt over a special summit of EU leaders taking place later this month to sign off on a withdrawal agreement. He said: “I do think with every day that passes the possibility of having a special summit in November become less likely.”

He added that a scheduled meeting of leaders in mid-December would still be a workable deadline, but after that the nodeal scenario becomes very real. PATIENTS in the Republic seeking treatment in Northern Ireland may be prevented from accessing procedures here after Brexit, it has been warned.

And in the last three years 607 patients in Northern Ireland have applied for treatment elsewhere in Europe — which could now end.

Some 4,462 applications have been approved in the Republic under two EU schemes to access UK healthcare services over the same period, according to figures obtained by The Detail investigative website.

Of these, 2,453 were for treatment in Northern Ireland, resulting in €37.9m worth of treatments under both the Cross Border Healthcare Directive and Treatment Abroad Scheme, known as S2 here.

Treatments included procedures relating to orthopaedics, gynaecology and oncology.

Nearly nine out of every 10 applications for treatment in other EU member states from the Republic, which has private costs attached to its public healthcare, between 2015 to 2017 were for treatment here, England and Scotland.

One chief executive of a south Belfast private clinic, which accepts patients from the Republic, warned that if no Brexit deal about the schemes is struck, access may stop.

Mark Regan, of Kingsbridge Private Hospital, said consultations peaked last month, with patients coming in fairly equal numbers from all over the Republic.

“The numbers don’t really get across the personal impact that Brexit could have... if the right deal isn’t struck,” he said.

He added this could have an adverse medical impact on some patients forced to travel to the mainland EU.

“Many of the Royal Colleges now recommend patients not to fly for six weeks or more after joint replacement surgery as it increases the risks of getting deep vein thrombosis,” he told The Detail.

“If, post-Brexit, Irish patients can’t come to Belfast, then this will place them in a compromising position of needing to fly home from mainland Europe with these risks in mind.”

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland patients, who have access to free healthcare under the NHS, received £1.7m worth of healthcare as part of the Cross Border Healthcare Directive in the Republic.

The Department of Health has confirmed that only the Treatment Abroad Scheme/S2 initiative — and not the cross-border scheme — has been included in the UK’s negotiations with the EU.

However, terms of the deal have yet to be finalised.