Johnson’s Brexit bid ‘falling short’
BORIS JOHNSON’S proposals for a new Brexit deal have been rejected by the Irish government and left European Union leaders “unconvinced”.
The Prime Minister told MPs he has made a “genuine attempt to bridge the chasm” with Brussels by making compromises ahead of the October 31 Brexit date.
But Irish premier Leo Varadkar said the Brexit plan “falls short in a number of aspects” while his deputy Simon Coveney said “if that is the final proposal, there will be no deal”.
And Donald Tusk, president of the European Council – the body made of up national leaders – said he told Boris Johnson “we remain open but still unconvinced” during talks yesterday.
Downing Street said the proposals to address problems with the Irish border were the “broad landing zone” and the “basis for discussion” in a conciliatory move after Number 10 sources had previously claimed they represented a final offer to Brussels.
Mr Varadkar said he could not fully understand how the UK envisages Northern Ireland and Ireland operating under different customs regimes without the need for checkpoints.
“We need to explore in much more detail the customs proposals that are being put forward as it’s very much the view of the Irish government and the people of Ireland, north and south, that there shouldn’t be customs checkpoints or tariffs between north and south,” the Taoiseach said.
Mr Varadkar said there were five ways to avoid a hard border – the reunification of Ireland; the Irish Republic re-joining the UK; the UK remaining in the single market and customs union; the border backstop mechanism; or the UK reversing the Brexit decision.
On the prospect of the UK abandoning Brexit, he said: “All the polls since Prime Minister Johnson became prime minister suggest that’s what the British people actually want, but their political system isn’t able to give them that choice.”
Mr Tusk also spoke to Mr Varadkar yesterday and delivered the message “we stand fully behind Ireland”.
In further signs of the resistance to Mr Johnson’s proposals in the EU, the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group said it had “grave concerns” about the plan.
“The BSG does not find these last minute proposals of the UK government of October 2, in their current form, represent a basis for an agreement to which the European Parliament could give consent,” they said.
European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said “we have many questions on the text” of the Brexit proposal that “need to be answered by the UK and not the other way around”.
Mr Johnson told the Commons yesterday that while his proposals do not deliver all his Brexit goals they are better options than to “remain a prisoner” of the current situation. But he accepted that they are “some way from a resolution” on the situation.