Our hearts are still open for UK says Tusk
EU still open to rethink from UK, suggests Tusk
THE PRESIDENT of the European Council has demanded more clarity from Prime Minister Theresa May over her plans for Brexit – and again held open the possibility of the UK changing its mind.
Donald Tusk yesterday insisted that the EU had not had a “change of heart” over Brexit, telling the British: “Our hearts are still open for you.” Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg, Mr Tusk said: “If the UK Government sticks to its decision to leave, Brexit will become a reality – with all its negative consequences – in March next year unless there is a change of heart among our British friends.
“Wasn’t it David Davis himself who said ‘If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy’?”
Responding to the council president’s comments, Theresa May’s official spokesman said: “We have been absolutely clear that the British people voted to leave the European Union and that is what we will be doing.”
Calling for continued unity among the remaining 27 members of the EU, Mr Tusk said: “The hardest work is still ahead of us and time is limited.”
Mr Tusk’s comments came as a leaked European Commission paper suggested the EU was toughening its stance on the transition period after the official date of Brexit in March 2019. A document obtained by The
Guardian newspaper suggested the EU will insist on free movement of people throughout the period, and permanent rights to settle for any EU nationals moving to the UK before the end of 2020.
2018 is the year when that rhetoric will finally meet reality. Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister.
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May is facing a renewed attack from some of Europe’s leading politicians over Britain’s divorce from the European Union, as the Government was last night accused of being in a state of “wilful denial” over the complexity of Brexit.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the UK’s Brexit plans were in “complete chaos” and warned that the UK Government had been “forced to capitulate” after adopting a “completely unrealistic” starting position in talks with the EU last year.
Her comments come as European Council president Donald Tusk yesterday demanded more clarity from Prime Minister Theresa May over her plans for Brexit, and held open the possibility of the UK changing its mind.
Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg, Mr Tusk insisted that the EU had not had a “change of heart” over Brexit, and said “Our hearts are still open” for the British.
Ms Sturgeon last night forecast that 2018 would be the year when “rhetoric will finally meet reality” over Brexit, during her speech in Edinburgh to insist the that the UK should remain in Europe’s single market and the customs union.
She spoke out after a new report by the Scottish Government suggested that leaving the EU without a trade deal in place would wipe £12.7bn a year from Scotland’s economy by 2030.
Ms Sturgeon also continued to make the case for Scotland to be allowed to take a “different approach” to immigration after the UK leaves the EU.
Speaking to the David Hume Institute, as Mr Tusk demanded Mrs May be more clear over her Brexit plans, the SNP leader said: “It is disturbing that the UK Government’s plans still seem to be – and I am putting this as gently as I possibly can – in a state of complete chaos. That’s partly because there still seems to be a wilful denial of the complexity of Brexit.”
While the Prime Minister “continues to suggest that no deal is a viable option for the UK”, the SNP leader said such a scenario would be “terrible”.
She stated: “2018 is the year when that rhetoric will finally meet reality.
“On every issue of substance so far where some decision has been taken – for example the timetable for talks, and settling the UK’s budget obligations – the UK Government has set out a completely unrealistic starting position, and then been forced to capitulate.
“That seems almost certain to happen again this year if they stick to unrealistic positions.
“Far better, surely, to stop wasting time and squandering goodwill and instead embark on these negotiations with a sensible and credible position at the outset.”
Responding to Mr Tusk’s comments yesterday, Theresa May’s official spokesman said: “We have been absolutely clear that the British people voted to leave the European Union and that is what we will be doing.”
Meanwhile, Theresa May has been accused of lying to the British people by a senior ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the plan to restore dark blue British passports after Brexit.
German MEP Manfred Weber mocked the focus on changing the colour of the travel document and stressed that it would have been possible to have blue passports without leaving the European Union.
Mr Weber, leader of the centreright European People’s Party in the European Parliament, also warned the Prime Minister that a deal on a transitional period after Brexit in March 2019 could not be taken for granted.
The passport story was a “scam” and a “drastic example for the lack of leadership” in Westminster, he said.
Mrs May has hailed the move to bring back blue travel documents as an expression of the UK’s post-Brexit “sovereignty and independence”.
But Mr Weber said: “The first problem in this respect is about honesty – the whole story is a scam.”