BORIS LAYS DOWN LAW
BORIS Johnson laid down the law to Brussels over the Irish backstop last night, demanding it be axed completely from Brexit negotiations.
The Prime Minister told the EU the backstop was ‘simply unviable’ and should be replaced with a new legal commitment to avoid the return of a hard border.
In a forthright letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, Mr Johnson said the backstop was ‘anti-democratic’, unsustainable as the basis for a long-term relationship and put the Good Friday Agreement at risk.
He wrote: ‘The problems with the backstop run much deeper than the simple political reality that it has three times been rejected by the House of Commons. The truth is that it is simply unviable.’
Instead, he said, Britain and the EU should commit to finding ‘alternative arrangements’ to manage the Irish border by the end of a transition period. This essentially means a technology-based solution, or the so-called ‘MaxFac’ approach, to avoid a hard border.
The Prime Minister’s letter to the EU came at the start of a crunch week for Britain’s hopes of a deal with the EU.
Mr Johnson will fly to Berlin tomorrow for dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel, before heading to Paris for lunch with French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
He will then attend a G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz at the weekend.
Last night, he clashed with Irish leader Leo Varadkar over the backstop issue for almost an hour during a telephone call.
Mr Johnson warned the Taoiseach the Brexit deal would not get through the Commons unless it was changed. But Mr Varadkar refused, insisting the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened. Speaking earlier, Mr Johnson said he was ‘confident’ the EU would eventually back down, but was preparing the country for No Deal in case it did not.
‘We will be ready to come out on October 31 deal or no deal,’ he said. ‘Now of course our friends and partners on the other side of the Channel are showing a little bit of reluctance at the moment to change their position. That’s fine – I’m confident that they will.’ In other developments:
Mr Johnson rejected John McDonnell’s demand to recall Parliament from its summer break;
The Government confirmed the UK would seize back control of its borders by ending freedom of movement rules under No Deal;
Downing Street was accused of a ‘desperate smear’ over the blaming of former ministers for the leak of Operation Yellowhammer warnings about No Deal;
Leaked internal planning papers suggested care homes could be forced to bring in rationing under No Deal, while schoolchildren could be fed lower quality meals;
The Freight Transport Association called on Brexit planning chief Michael Gove to ‘come clean’ over the real risks of No Deal amid reports of possible shortfalls of fresh food, fuel and medicines.
In his letter to Mr Tusk, Mr Johnson outlined three reasons why the backstop must be ditched if there was to be any prospect of a Brexit deal before October 31.
Firstly, he warned it was ‘ antidemocratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK’ as it would lock the country ‘potentially indefinitely’ into arrangements such as a customs union with the EU, and single market laws for Northern Ireland.
Secondly, he said it was ‘inconsistent with the UK’s desired final destination for a sustainable longterm relationship with the EU’.
Thirdly, he warned that it has ‘ become increasingly clear the backstop risks weakening the delicate balance embodied’ in the Good Friday Agreement.
He said that by handing control of economic regulations in Northern Ireland to an external body over which the people there had no democratic control, the agreement could be undermined.
Mr Johnson wrote: ‘For these three reasons the backstop cannot form part of an agreed Withdrawal Agreement. That is a fact we must both acknowledge.
‘I believe the task before us is to strive to find other solutions, and I believe an agreement is possible.’
He said both sides should commit to putting in place ‘alternative arrangements’ to avoid a hard border ‘as far as possible’ before the end of the transition period in December 2020. Mr Johnson concluded: ‘Time is very short. But the UK is ready to move quickly and given the degree of common ground already, I hope that the EU will be ready to do likewise.’
Speaking earlier yesterday on a visit to Cornwall, Mr Johnson admitted his European counterparts were reluctant to compromise, but he believed they would.
‘In the meantime we have to get ready for a No Deal outcome,’ he said. ‘I want a deal. We’re ready to work with our friends and partners to get a deal but, if you want a good deal for the UK, you must simultaneously get ready to come out without one.’
Boris Johnson held talks on the phone with Donald Trump last night for the fourth time in four weeks. Downing Street said the PM updated the President on Brexit, as well as discussing economic issues.