May’s charm offensive gives Brexit a boost

PM battles to end deadlock with dinner for EC president and a charm offensive against leaders

Theresa May’s hopes of breaking a deadlock in Brexit talks appeared to be given a boost last night after she and Jean-claude Juncker agreed to “accelerate” negotiations. Yesterday, the Prime Minister flew out to Brussels to dine with Mr Juncker, the president of the European Commission, following a charm offensive that saw her speak to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. Mrs May and Mr Juncker hailed the talks as “constructive and friendly”.

THERESA MAY’S hopes of breaking a deadlock in Brexit talks appeared to be given a boost last night after she and Jean-claude Juncker agreed to “accelerate” negotiations.

The Prime Minister yesterday flew out to dinner with Mr Juncker, the president of the European Commission, in a bid to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations.

It came after a Brexit charm offensive that saw her speak to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

And in an apparent sign of more cordial relations, Mr Juncker gave David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, a “bear hug” after the dinner, while earlier joking that there would be an “autopsy” in the wake of the meeting.

But while Mrs May and Mr Juncker hailed the talks as “constructive and friendly”, the EU appeared to be hardening its position ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit.

It yesterday emerged that EU leaders will formally demand that the European Court of Justice must oversee the rights of European citizens living in the UK after Brexit.

The line was reportedly added to a leaked draft of conclusions for the summit at the request of Germany and France. The UK has said the court can have no oversight after Brexit.

EU sources told The Daily Telegraph that while there is an “appetite” to move on with negotiations “there is just nothing to eat”.

A source said that the dinner was a pre-arranged “courtesy” that “nobody wants to attend” but there were concerns that failing to do so would represent “the worst of both worlds”.

The Prime Minister is unwilling to make further concessions after committing to paying Brussels up to €20 billion (£18 billion) during a two-year transition period after Brexit.

The European Union is demanding that “sufficient progress” must be made towards a Brexit divorce bill, the rights of EU citizens and Northern Ireland before talks can move forward. A senior EU diplomat told The Daily Telegraph that the “only game-changer would be money”, in a reference to the bill.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, suggested that it was “silly” for the European Union to get “hung up” over issues of process.

He said it was “blindingly obvious” that it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to move on to discussions about a future trade deal.

It came as Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said that the EU must “stop letting the grass grow under our feet”. Mr Johnson, speaking ahead of a summit of foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said that it is “time to head for the open sea” and move talks on.

He urged negotiators to “put a tiger in the tank” and push discussions forward. He said: “And people say to me, look, we want to reassure the 3.2million EU nationals in the UK and the one and a bit million UK nationals in the EU, and so do we.

“We’ve made a very good offer, we’ve made a very fair (offer).

“Let’s give them that reassurance, let’s put a tiger in the tank, let’s get these conversations going and stop letting the grass grow under our feet.”