May: Take comfort from Brexit stockpiling
Prime Minister says people should take comfort in the Government preparing for every eventuality
Theresa May has suggested the public should take “comfort” from government plans to stockpile medicines and food for a “no deal” Brexit as she said “we don’t know what the outcome is going to be”. Critics have accused ministers of trying to scare MPS into backing Mrs May’s Brexit vision with talk of hoarding essential supplies.
THERESA MAY has suggested the public should take comfort from plans to stockpile medicines and food for a nodeal Brexit, saying “we don’t know what the outcome is going to be”.
Critics have accused ministers of scaring MPS into backing her deal with talk of hoarding essential supplies, but the Prime Minister said precautions were “responsible and sensible”.
However, Ireland’s deputy prime minister accused her of “bravado”, insisting Britain “cannot afford” to crash out of the EU. Simon Coveney said walking away from negotiations with Brussels would have “significant” and “negative implications” for Britain.
Mrs May told 5 News: “Far from being worried about preparations that we’re making, I would say that people should take reassurance and comfort from the fact that the Government is saying that we’re in a negotiation working for a good deal, I believe we can get a good deal … but let’s prepare for every eventuality.”
Mrs May, a Remain voter who has repeatedly refused to say she would vote Leave if an EU Referendum were held today, was asked if she was a “committed Brexiteer”. She replied she was “committed to delivering Brexit for the British people”. She also refused to say if Brexit would reduce immigration, answering: “Brexit is an opportunity.”
Mr Coveney, in London for talks aimed at restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland, said that rather than talking about stockpiling, “we need to be focusing on the intensification of negotiations to try and find solutions and a way forward, as opposed to this tough stance that some people feel the need to take”.
He was speaking as negotiations resumed in Brussels yesterday in a continued bid to find a solution to the Irish border question, following a week where the EU side questioned the practicality of Mrs May’s Chequers deal.
Talks remained deadlocked over the nature of the Irish backstop which Mrs May rejected as “unacceptable” because it would create a border in the Irish Sea, dividing the United Kingdom.
The Daily Telegraph understands negotiators on both sides are considering innovative solutions that could include creating a “parallel backstop” for the UK mainland to sit alongside the EU’S backstop for Northern Ireland.
One official described the parallel backstop as a “conjoined twin” of the EU backstop, that would essentially keep both Northern Ireland and Great Britain in a temporary customs union, avoiding the need for a customs border in the Irish Sea. Both sides warned the idea was still in its infancy and fraught with political difficulties, but it might open the door to concluding a Withdrawal Agreement by the end of this year, leading to full trade negotiations in 2019.
Mr Coveney said he would support extending the negotiations if the UK asked for more time, but added he was confident enough time remained under the existing schedule for a deal.
While welcoming Mrs May’s Brexit White Paper, he questioned the complexity of her proposed facilitated customs arrangement and reiterated the EU’S claims that it will resist any proposal that attempted to separate goods and services.
He also disputed claims from some ministers and Tory MPS that it was up to the EU to concede ground, saying it was an “ongoing negotiation” and that some proposals laid down at Chequers would be “difficult to negotiate”. The EU’S hostile reaction to the Chequers deal had chilled relations between the sets of negotiators, with the UK side concerned that Mrs May’s offers of a “common rule book” and level-playing field with the EU had been dismissed too lightly.
Sources said the UK was particularly annoyed that Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, had attacked British proposals for an equivalence regime in financial services before they had even been formally discussed.
“It is as if Barnier is not interested in finding constructive solutions, even though the White Paper gives Europe much of what it has been asking for on alignment,” said one UK official.
The UK side is hoping that EU leaders will show more imagination when they meet for an informal summit in Salzburg on Sept 20.