Robbins clashes with Rees-mogg as he says backstop ‘bad for both sides’

‘[The European Union] have got us exactly where they want us’

THERESA MAY’S top Brexit adviser clashed with Jacob Rees-mogg yesterday as he admitted the backstop provision in the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement would be “uncomfortable”.

Oliver Robbins, Mrs May’s Europe adviser, told the Brexit select committee that ending in the backstop would be less than desirable “for both sides”.

But Mr Rees-mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPS, said it would only be bad for the UK and that the EU had “got us exactly where they want us”.

It came as Stephen Barclay, the new Brexit Secretary, got the date of Brexit wrong, suggesting it was on March 31 2019 instead of March 29.

The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday that Mr Robbins warned Mrs May that the customs backstop would be a “bad outcome” for the UK, leading to regulatory checks in the Irish Sea and putting security cooperation at risk. In a letter to the Prime Minister, he said there was no legal “guarantee” that Britain would be able to break free from the backstop, potentially leaving it trapped in an EU customs union.

Mr Robbins would not comment on the leaked letter but said it was “certainly true” that extending the transition period instead of entering into the backstop would mean “some of the other negative consequences of being in the backstop … would not apply”.

Asked if he believed the backstop to be a “bad outcome”, Mr Robbins said: “The backstop is definitely an uncomfortable outcome for both sides.”

Mr Rees-mogg replied: “Well, at least for one side. They have got us exactly where they want us.”