Lidington ‘not expecting meltdown’ in talks
A SENIOR Cabinet minister has rejected claims that Brexit negotiations are heading for a “meltdown” after Brussels delivered a frosty response to the UK’s latest proposals for resolving the fraught issue of the Irish border.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington’s comments came at the end of another turbulent week for the Government after the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier criticised key elements of the UK’s “backstop” proposals to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic if there is no Brexit deal. It coincided with the leak of private comments by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warning the Brexit negotiations were heading for a “meltdown”.
Appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Lidington said: “We are expecting to get the withdrawal agreement sorted this autumn and to have agreed a very ambitious new economic and security partnership with the EU. I am expecting the talks to move forward. I am not expecting a meltdown. What I am working towards supporting the PM towards is to get a successful deal. I hope that all my colleagues in Parliament will get behind her in the same way.”
In its latest backstop proposal, the Government said it expected any temporary customs arrangement with the EU would not continue beyond the end of 2021.