May’s plea: ‘let’s work together’

PM addresses EU leaders and asks for a Brexit deal that will be good for everybody involved

Theresa May has issued a direct plea to EU leaders to clear the way for a Brexit deal she can sell to British voters.

The Prime Minister told leaders of the remaining 27 states at a Brussels summit that they face a “clear and urgent imperative” to give new impetus to stalled negotiations if they are to get an outcome which is acceptable to both the British public and their own people.

The EU27 will declare today that insufficient progress has been made in withdrawal negotiations for trade talks to begin as Britain wants, with several leaders making clear they want more “clarity” about how much the UK is willing to pay in its Brexit “divorce bill”.

However, they are expected to offer Mrs May a glimmer of hope by agreeing to start work on their trade stance ahead of a possible green-light for the second phase of negotiations, dealing with trade and the transition to Brexit, at their next gathering on December 14-15.

German chancellor Angela Merkel gave the PM a Brexit boost by indicating there were “encouraging” signs the EU might be able to “take the work forward and then reach the start of the second phase in December”.

Mrs Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron made a very public show of support for the Prime Minister, engaging her in prolonged conversation, characterised by a senior British source as “very constructive and friendly”, on the way into the European Council summit.

The scenes made a strong contrast with last December, when the PM appeared isolated with no one to talk to as the leaders gathered round the table.

Addressing her fellow leaders over dinner, Mrs May left no doubt that she needs their help to deliver a deal acceptable to British voters.

“There is increasingly a sense that we must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people,” she said.

Calling for “joint effort and endeavour” to inject momentum into the talks process, she told them: “The clear and urgent imperative must be that the dynamic you create enables us to move forward together.”

Failure to secure the go-ahead for trade talks this month has fuelled pressure on Mrs May to begin expensive preparations for a “no-deal” Brexit.

And a group of hardline Brexiteers, including four Tory former cabinet ministers led by ex-chancellor Lord Lawson, signed a joint letter urging her to walk away from talks.

Mrs May acknowledged formal negotiations between Brexit secretary David Davis and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier had run into “difficulties” over the summer and said the UK was now determined to take a creative and pragmatic approach to moving the process forward.

She said her keynote speech in Florence last month, in which she committed Britain to meeting financial obligations from its time as an EU member, came after “I took stock, listened to what the people in the UK were saying and what my friends and partners in Europe were saying and I made a step forward”.

And she said she believed both sides now agreed negotiations were being conducted in a “new spirit”.

Mrs Merkel’s positive comments were echoed by Finnish prime minister Juha Sipila, who said: “I hope we can decide the next phase in December’s meeting, but today we are not in that position.”

And Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was also optimistic of enough common ground being reached by the preChristmas summit.

However, other leaders indicated that they believe the onus is on Mrs May to make further concessions on the divorce bill, which Brussels sources have put at around 60 billion euro (£53 billion).

There is increasingly a sense that we must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people. THERESA MAY