May setting ‘insane’ timetable to reach deal as Brussels talks go nowhere
THERESA MAY was accused of taking Brexit “down to the wire” by setting an “insane” timetable for a deal to be agreed as talks stalled in Brussels.
Donald Tusk, the European Council President, said there was “still no breakthrough in sight” yesterday as Mrs May came home with little more than an agreement to “take stock” at another meeting before the end of the month.
As she arrived in Brussels, the Prime Minister was asked if she was in “hell”, but her meeting with Mr Tusk had more of an icy chill about it as they failed to see eye to eye. Mrs May rebuked Mr Tusk over his comments about a “special place in hell” being reserved for Leave campaigners, saying they had caused “widespread dismay” in the UK.
Mr Tusk refused to apologise, and told her “the truth is painful”, before suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for a permanent customs union could be a “promising way” forward. He also asked her to set out a timeline of how she intended to leave the EU with a deal by March 29. He received no answer.
Mrs May failed to specify which of the three options for solving the Northern Ireland backstop she favoured: a time limit, a unilateral exit mechanism or replacing it with “alternative arrangements”, such as a free trade deal. One senior EU official told The Daily
Telegraph that with 49 days to go until Brexit: “We’re still at square one. We’ve just lost the month of February. Mrs May is now flirting with no deal and there’s a point where we’re going to enter full blown blame game mode.” The official said Mrs May now seemed determined to run the negotiation “down to the wire”, describing the time left to agree and ratify a deal as “insane”.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator, announced that Mrs May had promised the backstop would remain in the EU Withdrawal Agreement, following his meeting with her. Sources close to Mr Verhofstadt said Mrs May had told him that the backstop would stay “but would need adjustments”.
Brexiteers and MPS from the Democratic Unionist Party interpreted that as a sign that she had abandoned any attempt to have the backstop removed from the Brexit deal. The DUP and Tory Eurosceptics angrily pointed out that
‘If she wants a defeat, that’s what’s going to happen. This diminishes people who voted in good faith’
she had ordered her MPS to support a vote last month that instructed her to negotiate “alternative arrangements” to the backstop to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Sammy Wilson, the DUP Brexit spokesman, said: “She may as well not waste her time on trying to achieve something that is not going to get through Parliament anyway. The House of Commons has been clear that the backstop should be removed, and she herself stood up and supported the Brady amendment that called for that.
“If she wants another defeat then that’s what’s going to happen. This diminishes her, it diminishes Parliament and diminishes people who voted in good faith.”
Mrs May said after “robust” discussions with Mr Verhofstadt, Mr Tusk and Jean-claude Juncker, that she would “negotiate hard” to secure legally binding changes to the backstop element of the Withdrawal Agreement.
Mr Juncker, the President of the European Commission, insisted that the Withdrawal Agreement could not be reopened and offered only a “more ambitious” addition to the political declaration that accompanies the deal, which sets out intentions for future trade talks but is not legally binding.
Mrs May insisted: “I am going to deliver Brexit. I am going to deliver it on time. That is what I am going to do for the British public.”
Today Mrs May will have dinner in Dublin with Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, to discuss a solution to the backstop, while Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, will also visit the Irish capital to meet his opposite number, Seamus Woulfe.
Mr Cox has been put in charge of exploring ways of imposing a time limit on the backstop or giving the UK a unilateral exit mechanism from it.
Despite Mr Verhofstadt’s comments, Downing Street insisted the so-called Malthouse Compromise of replacing the backstop with a free trade deal was still on the table.
On Monday, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, will travel to Brussels to discuss the option with Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator.
Parliament will debate Brexit again next Thursday, when fresh attempts are expected to be made to block a nodeal Brexit.
Mrs May is expected to give MPS a “meaningful vote” on a revised Brexit deal in the last week of February, but if a new deal is agreed by MPS it must be ratified by the European Council, which next meets on March 21 and 22, just a week before the planned exit day.