‘New sense of optimism’ in Brexit talks, claims May
THERESA May has insisted she has stuck to her principles on Brexit following a last-minute deal designed to let negotiations switch to trade issues.
In an address to the Commons today the Prime Minister will indicate she expects the EU to formally agree the second phase of talks at a Brussels summit this week, and is rejecting talk of a hard or soft Brexit.
With some Tory Brexiteers expressing concern that the UK has agreed to pay a £39bn exit bill, let the European Court of Justice have a legal role for a further eight years, and accepted “full alignment” with the EU on issues that impact on Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister is saying she has been consistent in her approach.
The PM is expected to say: “This is not about a hard or a soft Brexit. The arrangements we have agreed to reach the second phase of the talks are entirely consistent with the principles and objectives that I set out in my speeches in Florence and at Lancaster House.
“It has required give and take for the UK and the EU to move forwards together. And that is what we have done.
“Of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.
“But there is, I believe, a new sense of optimism now in the talks and I fully hope and expect that we will confirm the arrangements I have set out today in the European Council later this week.”
THERESA May will claim there is a “new sense of optimism” in the Brexit talks when she addresses MPs today, but tensions have already flared between London and Dublin.
The path was cleared to start work on crucial trade talks last week with the publication of a landmark agreement on issues including the future of the Irish border, the rights of EU citizens and the divorce bill.
But Brexit Secretary David Davis yesterday said the agreement was “much more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing”.
This alarmed the Republic of Ireland’s Government, which insisted the deal was “binding”.
The agreement secured the green light for the second phase of talks to being at an EU summit this week.
As well as pledging to avoid a hard border, the UK stated that in the “absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union” which support the “all-island economy” and the Good Friday Agreement.
The Irish government’s chief whip, Joe McHugh, described the Brexit Secretary’s comments as “bizarre”.
He told RTE: “We will as a government, a sovereign government in Ireland, be holding the United Kingdom to account, as will the European Union. My question to anybody within the British Government would be, why would there be an agreement, a set of principled agreements, in order to get to phase two, if they weren’t going to be held up?
“That just sounds bizarre to me. “This, as far as we’re concerned, is a binding agreement, an agreement in principle.”
Mr Davis said the UK Government was committed to “maintaining a frictionless invisible border” with the Republic even if no deal is secured with the EU.
But on the key issue of the financial settlement, he warned: “No deal means that we won’t be paying the money.”
However, the Brexit Secretary told the BBC’s Andrew Marr the chances of the UK leaving without a deal had now “dropped dramatically”.
Mr Davis described the deal he wants to secure as “Canada-plus, plus, plus” – signalling that he hopes to get the key elements of the arrangements that exist between Canada and the EU but also free trade in services.
He added: “We’ll probably start with the best of Canada and the best of Japan and the best of South Korea and then add to that the bits missing, which is the services.”
Mrs May intends to strike a confident pose when she addresses MPs and look ahead to building “bold new economic and security relationships”.
She will insist that the arrangements are “entirely consistent with the principles and objectives” she previously set out, saying: “I know that some doubted we would reach this stage. I have always been clear that this was never going to be an easy process.
“It has required give and take for the UK and the EU to move forwards together. And that is what we have done.
“Of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. But there is, I believe, a new sense of optimism now in the talks and I fully hope and expect that we will confirm the arrangements I have set out today in the European Council later this week.
“In doing so we can move on to building the bold new economic and security relationships that can underpin the new deep and special partnership we all want to see. A partnership between the European Union and a sovereign United Kingdom that has taken control of its borders, money and laws once again.”
Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards has joined with leading pro-EU MPs to demand that the UK Parliament is given a “meaningful vote” on the Brexit deal.
Together with Chuka Umunna (Labour), Anna Soubry (Conservative), Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrats), Stephen Gethins (SNP), and Green MP Caroline Lucas, he is urging MPs to back an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.
They are concerned that under present arrangements the UK could “crash the UK out of the Union with no deal”.
They state: “[We] could even find ourselves in the absurd position of voting on the exit agreement after the UK has left. That is why we believe it to be vital that colleagues from across the House vote on Wednesday to give Parliament a
properly meaningful say on Brexit by supporting Amendment 7 to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by the former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve MP. It helps ensure a meaningful vote comes before exit day and that the terms of our withdrawal should be approved by way of a legally binding Act of Parliament, which should be passed before the Prime Minister signs any agreement.”
Meanwhile, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford urged Labour to make the case that the UK should stay in the Single Market and Customs Union.
He argues the expected two-year post-Brexit transition phase creates the opportunity for the UK to stay in these groupings.
He said: “The first thing we’re going to do is have the transition deal. The EU is making it clear through that transition deal we will remain in the Single Market and the Customs Union, that will create the pathway for us doing that over the longer term and I believe is consistent with the vote that took place in the UK last year.”
He told the BBC’s Mr Marr that nobody had voted to become poorer, saying: “What we want Labour to do is to get behind us and others that are arguing that we should stay in the Single Market and the Customs Union.”