EU, UK play blame game

Brexit: Cabinet rebellion likely

LONDON/BRUSSELS: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a fresh rebellion in his cabinet, with a group of ministers poised to resign due to concerns that he is leading the country towards a nodeal Brexit, The

newspaper reported yesterday.

Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan, British Minister for Northern Ireland Julian Smith, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, Health Minister Matt Hancock and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are all on a ‘‘resignation watch list’’, according to the report.

An unnamed cabinet minister cited by the newspaper said a ‘‘very large number’’ of Conservative members of parliament would quit if it came to a nodeal Brexit.

Meanwhile, the European Union has accused Britain of playing a ‘‘stupid blame game’’ over Brexit after a Downing Street source said a deal was essentially impossible because German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made unacceptable demands.

Three weeks before the United Kingdom is due to leave the bloc, the future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain as both London and Brussels position themselves to avoid blame for a delay or a disorderly nodeal Brexit.

In a sign that Johnson’s lastditch proposals to bridge the Brexit impasse have failed, a Downing Street source said Merkel and Johnson had had a frank exchange on Tuesday and she had made clear that a deal was ‘‘overwhelmingly unlikely’’.

The Downing Street source said if Merkel’s position on Northern Ireland remaining in the EU’s customs union was the bloc’s position, then a deal was impossible. The biggest hurdle to a deal remains the postBrexit border arrangements between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

‘‘If this represents a new established position then it means a deal is essentially impossible not just now but ever,’’ the Downing Street source said.

Johnson insists Northern Ireland must leave the EU’s customs union with the rest of the UK.

A spokesman for the German chancellor confirmed the call had taken place but declined to comment further.

The EU was scathing about Johnson’s stance.

‘‘Boris Johnson, what’s at stake is not winning some stupid blame game,’’ European Council President Tusk said on Twitter. ‘‘At stake is the future of Europe and the UK as well as the security and interests of our people. You don’t want a deal, you don’t want an extension, you don’t want to revoke, quo vadis?’’

Such abrupt remarks indicate the Brexit blame game has begun in earnest, and that now both London and EU capitals are preparing for an acrimonious and potentially chaotic Brexit for which neither side wants to be held responsible.

European Parliament President David Sassoli said after meeting Johnson on Tuesday there had been no progress in the Brexit talks.

‘‘If his ideas are limited to what he presented to the negotiator [Michel] Barnier five days ago, it means that he doesn’t actually want an agreement,’’ Sassoli, an Italian, told reporters, speaking through a translator in London. — Reuters