Chequers plan ‘has positive elements’, insists EU
Brussels responds to claim PM’s Brexit idea ‘is dead’
BRUSSELS HAS insisted there are “positive elements” to the Chequers Brexit plan following claims the EU’s chief negotiator said Theresa May’s proposals were “dead”.
The European Commission said Michel Barnier had been clear in setting out the EU’s views on Chequers and the need for further talks on the areas that “still create problems”.
The EU’s chief negotiator and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab were meeting in Brussels just a day after the Cabinet minister was told that Mr Barnier had declared the plan to be “dead in the water” during a meeting with MPs.
Mr Raab was told of Mr Barnier’s withering assessment of the Chequers blueprint as the Minister faced a grilling over the Government’s EU withdrawal strategy.
The EU negotiator held talks with the Brexit select committee on Monday to discuss progress in the negotiations, making it “crystal clear” the Chequers plan was unacceptable, according to Labour’s Stephen Kinnock.
During exchanges in another Commons committee with Mr Raab, Mr Kinnock insisted Brussels had spiked the plans.
Mr Kinnock said: “I can tell you absolutely, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt that Chequers is dead in the water.”
The Labour MP said Frenchman Mr Barnier told the MPs “les propositions sont mortes” - the proposals are dead.
Asked about the comments, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas urged people to wait for the official transcript of Monday’s behindclosed-doors meeting between Mr Barnier and the Commons Brexit Committee.
“Michel Barnier was very clear expressing the commission position on Chequers from the very first moment,” he said.
“I don’t think that people present in the room and beyond the room have any doubt on what we said on Chequers – we identified where there were positive elements and we discussed also the possibility for further discussions to address issues that still create problems.”
He added that the private meeting provided “the perfect recipe for everybody coming out of there and saying what one or the other understood Michel saying”.
He added: “Let’s wait for the transcript and then let’s check the sort of things that are reported of what Michel Barnier said against what he actually really said.”
Mr Barnier said yesterday’s meeting with Mr Raab would see the pair continue work to find “common ground” between the European Council’s guidelines and the Chequers plan with a view to creating a “new, ambitious partnership”.
Meanwhile, further details emerged about the Government’s contingency planning for a nodeal Brexit – codenamed Operation Yellowhammer.
An official document photographed in Westminster appeared to show the Treasury’s position on Yellowhammer and indicated that Whitehall’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat was coordinating action.
The Treasury document suggested that ministries should focus on “internal reprioritisation” to fund no-deal costs, although Government sources stressed that money set aside for Brexit pressures was available.
Separately, an MP said yesterday that the Foreign Office should be turned into a Brexit “super ministry” with oversight and control over a number of other Government departments.
Bob Seely, who sits on the Commons foreign affairs committee, told MPs that the move would allow for better integration between departments and give greater “coherence” in the approach to foreign affairs.
The Tory MP suggested that the Department for International Trade (DIT), Department for International Development (DFID), defence, the Cabinet Office and even the Prime Minister’s office should all fall under the soupedup department’s remit.
Let’s wait for the transcript and check what he actually really said. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas.
WITH THE Government’s current handling of Brexit satisfying almost no-one – including vast swathes of Theresa May’s own party – calls for the North to be given additional powers to set its own direction after the UK departs the European Union come at an apposite moment.
The inaugural meeting of the Convention of the North yesterday saw Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, argue that a bold new approach is needed, with fundamental and wideranging powers transferred to the region so it is no longer dependent on central government to step in and solve its problems.
The idea deserves serious consideration – the chaos on the region’s railways this year has been the perfect example of where local leaders have had their hands tied by a lack of influence, while those in power in London have failed in their response.
It will of course be incumbent upon northern leaders to demonstrate that they would be able to steer clear of the sort of squabbling that has paralysed central Government on the issue of Brexit, but the very organising of the first Convention of the North, in which political and business leaders joined representatives from unions, community groups and other organisations, is a positive signal of intent.
But Mr Forbes’s call also highlights, yet again, the importance of sealing a meaningful One Yorkshire devolution deal as soon as possible to give the county greater sway on the decisions that affect the lives and finances of ordinary residents.
Greater Manchester and the Tees Valley are already benefiting from their own powers, extra funding and mayoral representation, while detailed plans are now in train for a similar agreement for a ‘North of Tyne’ authority serving Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside.
Yorkshire must not miss out any longer, as is currently the case.