AS PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY FLIES IN TO NI FOR BREXIT TALKS...
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THERESA May will seek to convince the DUP that her draft EU withdrawal deal will strengthen the Union by handing more powers to devolved assemblies when she meets the five main Stormont parties today.
Despite facing what appears to be insurmountable opposition in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister has embarked on a campaign to convince the public and wider society of the merits of her agreement.
Yesterday, she confirmed MPs will vote on the deal on December 11 — giving her two weeks to win support.
Just five days after hosting a 50-strong delegation of Northern Ireland business and farming leaders in Downing Street, Mrs May (below) will today visit Queen’s University to meet students, academics, community and religious leaders.
She will then head to Stormont to engage with the five main political parties, including the DUP and UUP, who argue that the backstop provision contained in her withdrawal deal threatens Northern Ireland’s constitutional position.
It’s understood the Prime Minister will urge unionists to listen to major employers and trade bodies who have voiced support for the draft deal.
After a bruising day in the Commons yesterday, Mrs May will travel to Wales, then Belfast, where she will deliver a message on about 150 areas of policy that Downing Street says will pass to the devolved parliaments after Brexit.
She will say this offers more local control in areas including agriculture, fisheries, air quality and organ donation.
According to No.10, she will also set out how the maintenance of the Common Travel Area and the agreement reached on the backstop honours the Good Friday Agreement and will avoid a hard border.
Speaking ahead of the visit, Mrs May said: “Having been told by the EU that we would need to split the UK in two, we are leaving as one United Kingdom. My deal delivers for every corner of the UK and I will work hard to strengthen the bonds that unite us as we look ahead to our future outside of the EU.
“Throughout negotiations, I have fought to ensure that powers returning from the EU will be restored to the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.”
In a direct appeal to farmers, she said the indus- try “deserves better” than the existing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) framework set out by the EU.
“After we leave the CAP we will be free to design a new policy that works for agricultural producers in all four nations and we are taking that work forward,” she said last night.
Turning to the issue of the Irish border, Mrs May said it had been “at the forefront” of her mind throughout negotiations.
She said the deal “avoids a hard border” in Ireland, and gives “unfettered access” to the rest of the UK.
But last night, Mrs May was dealt a major blow after US President Donald Trump said it may harm trade with America.
Mr Trump said that he wanted the Prime Minister to “do something” about the agreement to ensure the UK can trade with the US more freely.
Referring to the Brexit agreement, Mr Trump told reporters: “Sounds like a great deal for the EU.
“I think we have to take a look at, seriously, whether or not the UK is allowed to trade.
“Because, you know, right now, if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us. And that wouldn’t be a good thing. “I don’t think they meant that. “I don’t think that the Prime Minister meant that. And, hopefully, she’ll be able to do something about that.”
Earlier, the PM received a largely hostile reception as she told the Commons her Brexit deal “delivers for the British peo- ple”, and warned that rejecting it would put the UK on the path to division and uncertainty.
She was loudly barracked by MPs as she insisted no better deal was available than the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on future relations endorsed by EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday. Former minister Mark Francois branded her deal a “surrender” and said opposition from Eurosceptic Tories and the DUP meant it was already “dead as a Dodo”.
On the backstop, the Prime Minister told MPs: “First, this is an insurance policy that no-one wants to use. Both the UK and the EU are fully committed to having our future relationship in place by 1st January 2021.
“And the Withdrawal Agreement has a legal duty on both sides to use best endeavours to avoid the backstop ever coming into force.
“If, despite this, the future relationship is not ready by the end of 2020, we would not be forced to use the backstop. We would have a clear choice between the backstop or a short extension to the Implementation Period. If we did choose the backstop, the legal text is clear that it should be temporary and that the Article 50 legal base cannot provide for a permanent relationship.”
Mrs May added: “Furthermore, as a result of the changes we have negotiated, the legal text is now also clear that once the backstop has been superseded, it shall ‘cease to apply’. So if a future Parliament decided to then move from an initially deep trade relationship to a looser one, the backstop could not return.
“I do not pretend that either we or the EU are entirely happy with these arrangements. And that’s how it must be; were either party entirely happy, that party would have no incentive to move on to the future relationship.
“But there is no alternative deal that honours our commitments to Northern Ireland which does not involve this insurance policy. And the EU would not have agreed any future partnership without it. Put simply, there is no deal that comes without a backstop, and without a backstop there is no deal.”