‘No way in a million years’ EU will back new UK Brexit plan
BRUSSELS is set to reject attempts by the UK to secure an independent arbitration panel that could offer them an escape route from the border backstop – heightening the risk of a chaotic, no-deal Brexit.
UK Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay met with chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels yesterday, hoping to secure fresh assurances on the insurance policy for avoiding a hard border.
But with a vote on the Brexit deal less than a week away, officials say there is ‘no way in a million years’ that the EU will support the measures being sought by the UK in order to secure the support needed to pass the bill in the House of Commons.
Mr Cox and Mr Barclay arrived in Brussels yesterday seeking the establishment of an independent arbitration panel, which would act outside the remit of the European Court of Justice, that would be able to decide if and when the backstop should come to an end.
But a Government source told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘There’s no way in a million years that the EU would grant arbitration to an outside body, especially in relation to the single market.
‘It is being discussed in Brussels because it is being raised today by the British. But this is more of the UK negotiating with themselves.’
They said: ‘We would be extremely cautious about this proposal. It is being touted in the British press, which is a guaranteed way to fail in Brexit talks. It’s over to Barnier for now.’
Yesterday Tánaiste Simon Coveney said it was ‘too early to be optimistic’ that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided, and admitted that negotiations in Brussels have been ‘difficult’. He told reporters: ‘I think we’re in the space of trying to provide clarification that temporary means temporary, and that Geoffrey Cox and others can recommend to their parliament that they won’t be trapped against their will indefinitely into the future or anything like that. That’s the space we’re in.’
He added: ‘I think that Michel Barnier and his team, and Geoffrey Cox and Steve Barclay and Co, they need time and space now to see whether they can put a persuasive case together that will help this deal get ratified this Tuesday.’
Regarding the UK proposals for an arbitration panel, Mr Coveney said he had put his trust in Mr Barnier and his team to find a way through, without undermining the backstop and its protections for Ireland.
But the influential European Research Group, a group of hardline Brexiteers within the Conservative party, have said their support for Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement will depend on Mr Cox securing a ‘clear and unconditional route out’ of the backstop.
They have also indicated that new language which reiterates the temporary nature of the backstop will not be enough for them to back the Brexit deal.
Mr Cox’s key mission is to secure assurances that can convince him to reverse his previous legal judgment that the Withdrawal Agreement would leave the UK trapped in the backstop for good.
Negotiations will continue throughout the week in Brussels, but this will be a major blow to efforts to avoid a crash-out Brexit, with little more than three weeks remaining before the UK is due to leave the bloc.
There is still no clear pathway for avoiding a no-deal Brexit, with MPs set to vote again on the Withdrawal Bill on Tuesday.