Boris backpedals
He says he’ll vote for PM’s deal if she gets a time limit from Brussels
BORIS Johnson has dropped his outright opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal amid signs that Eurosceptic opinion is fracturing.
In a significant climbdown yesterday, the former Foreign Secretary indicated he would vote for Mrs May’s deal if she can secure a time limit on the controversial Irish backstop.
Mr Johnson had previously called for the backstop to be ‘junked’ in its entirety.
But yesterday he suggested he would accept the deal if Mrs May succeeded in her bid to persuade Brussels to time-limit the backstop or give the UK a unilateral exit clause.
Speaking at the launch of a new report on ‘global Britain’, Mr Johnson said: ‘It is vital that in the course of the next few days or weeks, our Prime Minister does find a way out of that backstop and creates a UK-sized exit.
‘It has got to be a time limit that falls before the next general election if it has any meaning – and it must be an exit route that we are capable of exercising on our own.
‘If we can change the backstop and if we can get our way in Brussels – which, by the way, I’m sure that with sufficient willpower and energy we can – then we are at the races.’ His comments came as: Liam Fox branded Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit plans a ‘ dangerous delusion’ as he warned Mrs May not to cosy up to the Labour leader in any circumstances;
Chancellor Philip Hammond acknowledged that Brexit uncertainty was ‘ taking its toll on the economy’ as new figures showed the economy recorded its lowest growth since the financial crisis last year;
Mrs May prepared to ask MPs to give her more time to negotiate Brexit concessions with Brussels;
Michel Barnier held talks with new Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay in Brussels but warned ‘something has to give’ on the British side if there is going to be a deal before the UK leaves next month;
Representatives of the food industry warned they were pulling out of co-operation with the Government on other issues to focus on contingency plans for the ‘catastrophic impact’ of a No Deal Brexit;
MPs behind a bid to delay Brexit indicated they would not force a Commons vote on their plans, provided Mrs May guarantees them a final opportunity at the end of this month.
Some senior Eurosceptics have said they will not back Mrs May’s deal unless the backstop plan is replaced altogether.
In a joint article at the weekend, former Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson said the mechanism – which critics fear could keep the UK locked in a customs union against its will – ‘remains unacceptable to significant numbers of MPs’.
But Tory sources believe that others, including former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and possibly even Eurosceptic shop steward Jacob Rees-Mogg, might eventually be swayed if Mrs May secures legal changes to give the UK a route out of the backstop. One said: ‘If – and it’s a big if – she can get something on the backstop then there are signs the European Research Group (ERG) might fracture. We won’t get all of them – some of them won’t vote for any deal – but we just might get enough.’
Mr Hammond last night suggested that the looming possibility of a No Deal Brexit next month was focusing minds on both sides of the Channel, saying: ‘Time pressure is having a positive effect. It is forcing people to start thinking about compromise.’
An ERG source acknowledged that some MPs were looking for a reason to vote for the deal, but warned it would still be heavily defeated if it contains a version of the backstop.
Downing Street yesterday moved to reassure Eurosceptic MPs that Mrs May was not gearing up to adopt Labour’s plans for a permanent customs union if her deal faltered.
In a letter to Mr Corbyn at the weekend, the Prime Minister appeared to leave the door open to a possible compromise and offered the Labour leader more talks on the issue.
But her official spokesman yesterday said: ‘We are not considering Jeremy Corbyn’s proposals on the customs union. We are not considering any proposals on the customs union. We must have an independent trade policy.’
Dr Fox – one of several Cabinet Eurosceptics who might quit over a customs union – said: ‘Of course we always want to work with the opposition but the opposition has put forward some ideas that are not workable.’
But justice minister Rory Stewart suggested a deal with Labour was possible.
Asked if the Prime Minister was looking at some sort of compromise with Mr Corbyn, Mr Stewart said: ‘Yes. I think she feels, as I do, that there isn’t actually as much dividing us from the Labour Party as some people suggest.’
‘Thinking about a compromise’