EU offers May new Brexit backstop plan
Barnier’s proposals dismissed by London as ‘a return to old ideas’
MICHEL Barnier has offered the UK a unilateral exit clause from the backstop, but it will mean Northern Ireland staying behind.
Yesterday, the EU’s chief negotiator called all 27 member state ambassadors to an unscheduled summit in Brussels, after a speech by Theresa May in which she said the Brexit deal ‘needs one final push’ to get the backing of MPs in next week’s vote.
Mr Barnier then made an offer that would allow Britain to leave the new ‘single customs territory’ that the backstop will create, but will require Northern Ireland to keep some ties to the EU.
He tweeted: ‘EU commits to give UK the option to exit the Single Customs Territory unilaterally, while the other elements of the backstop must be maintained to avoid a hard border. UK will not be forced into customs union against its will.’
The UK has been seeking lastminute assurances on the backstop that can convince London Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to reverse his legal judgment that the policy would keep Britain ‘trapped’ in the EU indefinitely.
It is hoped if he can be convinced to change that view, it could secure the backing of enough MPs to get the Withdrawal Agreement over the line in the House of Commons and avoid a no-deal Brexit.
However, Mr Barnier’s proposals were dismissed as a return to ‘old ideas’ already rejected in talks. A government source summed up the feeling in London by saying it was ‘not impressed’.
The proposal was also rejected by the DUP, who are propping up the Tory government, describing it as ‘a non-starter’ and saying it showed ‘no respect to the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom’.
The new proposal echoes the original ‘Northern Ireland-only’ backstop which was mooted in December 2017, but was rejected by Theresa May after objections by the DUP. Mrs May described that plan as ‘something no UK prime minister could sign up to’ as it would treat Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the UK.
Instead, the customs territory was extended to cover the whole of the UK, despite EU concerns that this amounted to ‘cherry picking’ of market access.
The EU has also offered to give legal status to assurances given by Jean Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk in January, that they will use their ‘best endeavours’ to secure a backstop alternative by 2020, with the backing of an arbitration panel.
An Irish Government source told the Mail: ‘It certainly sounds like we’re back to where we started. But Barnier is simply offering whatever he can. We’ve had no proposals whatsoever from the UK, so it’s on the EU to try and come up with something to break the impasse.’
Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the EU had offered many compromises to the UK but had not received any in return.
‘And bear in mind elements of that compromise – like extending the backstop on a UK-wide basis, a single customs territory involving all of the United Kingdom – these were compromises that the British government sought,’ he added. ‘We were, and remain, happy to apply the backstop only to Northern Ireland, if they want to go back to that.
‘It doesn’t have to trap or keep all of Great Britain in a single customs territory at all or for a prolonged period, again that’s up to them. And we have already agreed to the review clause and also the good faith clause, so I think we have made a lot of compromises already and what’s not evident is what the UK government is offering the EU and Ireland should they wish us to make any further compromises.’
‘We have received no offer from them as to what they would give us in return for any changes, so I think it requires a change of approach by the UK government to understand Brexit is a problem of their creation,’ he said.
Although the DUP are vehemently opposed to the proposal, their case will have been weakened by yesterday’s Irish Times/ Ipsos poll which showed 67% of Northern Ireland voters want the UK to remain in the customs union and single market, to avoid the need for a hard border. Mr Varadkar noted the poll results, saying it shows ‘a clear majority of people in Northern Ireland actually support the backstop’.
‘That doesn’t surprise me
Last-minute assurances Warning issued to British MPs
because most of the political parties in Northern Ireland do, and most of the members of the Northern Ireland Assembly do, and business and civil society and the farmers support it as well.
‘So that raises the question, if Northern Ireland and the people of Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland society is in favour of the backstop, why would the UK House of Commons prevent the backstop from applying to Northern Ireland?’
In a final bid to shore up support for her deal from Westminster, Theresa May yesterday warned MPs that another rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement could mean Brexit doesn’t happen at all. ‘Back it and the UK will leave the EU. Reject it and no one knows what will happen,’ she said.