Deadline for Brexit terms may be pushed back a month
THE deadline for Britain and the European Union to agree the terms of Brexit may be pushed back four weeks amid fears that Conservative MPS could scupper Theresa May’s Chequers deal.
According to sources in Whitehall, negotiators were looking to agree a new “hard deadline” at a special meeting of EU heads of government in November, rather than at an Oct 18 meeting. Any vote of MPS could come after that.
The news comes as fears grow that a group of hardline Conservative Eurosceptic MPS could sink Mrs May’s deal by not voting for it in the Commons.
Downing Street is to step up its Chequers campaign over the next two months to try to win over Tory MPS by making clear that the Prime Minister will not try to water down her deal. But there are concerns that David Davis and Boris Johnson – who both quit over the deal, which keeps Britain closely tied to the EU after Brexit – could be among those to lead a rebellion.
No10 is concerned that if the deal is voted down, MPS could amend the legislation to keep Britain in the EU. The Government had hoped to agree the deal that would set out the terms of Britain’s exit at the regular meeting of EU leaders on Oct 18. However, the extra four weeks was being sought so both sides had more time.
David Lidington, Mrs May’s deputy, told the BBC it was straightforward to organise an emergency meeting of the EU council to agree the exit terms.
He said: “I was Europe minister for six years. I lived through enough emergency European council meetings to know that the European council can call additional meetings when it wants to. He added both sides wanted an agreement “as quickly as possible … but if it slips beyond October into November, I think that is manageable.”
Mr Lidington also defended the decision by Chancellor Philip Hammond to issue a stark Brexit warning on the same day Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, tried to play down the risks of a disorderly divorce. Mr Hammond had stated in a letter to the Treasury select committee that a no-deal withdrawal would have “large fiscal consequences” – despite
Mr Raab saying hours earlier that the “vast majority” of consumers would not notice the impact. The Daily Telegraph understands the letter was issued without the consent of No10.
Earlier this week Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, repeated his demand that the UK present an “all weather” backstop, but hinted that October was not an absolute deadline and that talks must conclude “certainly not later than the beginning of November”.
However, EU sources later declined to confirm the extra four weeks had been agreed. One said: “If it can’t be done at the end of October, what is an extra two to three weeks going to do?”
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 but the withdrawal agreement needs to be settled months before. Mr Lidington’s intervention came as Roberto Azevêdo, the director general of the World Trade Organisation, said a no-deal Brexit and a shift to WTO rules would not be a “walk in the park”.