Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Frustration at meeting as May fails to impress
May rages at ‘nebulous’ slur She fails to get better deal MPS under fire in Brussels
THERESA May confronted EU chief Jean-claude Juncker after he accused the UK of being “nebulous and imprecise” on Brexit.
Mrs May admitted having a “robust” conversation with Mr Juncker, who insisted his comments were not about her personally.
He said: “I can’t see where the British parliament is heading.
“That is why I was saying that it was nebulous – foggy in English – I was not addressing her.”
He said when the PM accepted that, “she was kissing me”.
Mrs May limped home from Brussels empty handed last night after EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ruled out making significant concessions to her Brexit deal to win over MPS. Mrs May claimed she had been promised “further clarification” on the Northern Ireland backstop in private talks with leaders at the summit.
She said: “Negotiations like this are always tough.” Her plans for a 12-month limit for the backstop, and a crisis Brexit summit in January were rejected.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said renegotiating the divorce deal was off the table. He said the EU had Ireland’s back. But Mrs May clung to suggestions more talks could take place to get the “further assurances” MPS needed to back her deal. She said: “It is clear we can look at this issue of further clarification.” European leaders hinted as the summit closed that future trade talks could start soon, but they turned their fire on MPS blocking her deal.
European Council President Donald Tusk said: “We have treated Mrs May with much greater empathy and respect than some British MPS.”
Luxembourg’s PM Xavier Bettel said “the problem is MPS in London”.
Mrs May’s failure to win changes also came in for criticism at home.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said: “The key question is whether the PM will stand up to them or roll over.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The PM needs to put her deal to a vote next week so Parliament can take back control.”
STAGING the 2016 Brexit referendum cost £129.1million, the Electoral Commission has revealed. say we will work towards a target date.
“It is not possible to say we will definitely meet that date.” WHILE Westminster was in chaos due to the cancelled vote and the leadership plot, British officials were working hard to rescue Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
But it all lay in tatters after she failed to impress at the EU summit on Thursday night.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel interrupted her plea for help to tell her to spit it out. There was also surprise that Mrs May, instead of setting out the UK’S stall, asked what the EU was prepared to offer at this late stage.
When asked what Brexit meant, the PM reportedly resorted to her robotic fallback: “Brexit means Brexit.”
At a midnight press conference, a dishevelled EU chief Jean-claude Juncker veered off-script calling the UK “nebulous” and “imprecise”.
The press conference was swiftly wound up.