UK farmers looking at diversification
‘Review mechanism’ is touted as a solution
Almost a fifth of UK farmers are planning to diversify as they face up to the “greatest challenge to their future for generations”, new research reveals, amid uncertainty over payments to farms post-Brexit.
MINISTERS ARE drawing up new proposals for Britain to escape any controversial Irish “backstop” arrangement included in the Brexit withdrawal agreement in a bid to get a deal over the line before Christmas.
Theresa May is hoping a “review mechanism” will allay the concerns of Tory Brexiteers, including the likes of Dominic Raab and Esther McVey in her Cabinet, as well as DUP MPs who are concerned that the backstop could see the UK trapped indefinitely in a customs union with the EU to avoid a hard Irish border.
Sources close to talks said London regarded it as a “big step” that the EU side now appears ready to contemplate a means for bringing the backstop to an end short of a broader trade treaty.
And it is understood that Attorney General Geoffrey Cox yesterday briefed Cabinet on a range of options for the review mechanism, believed to include the possibility of an independent body ruling on whether talks had failed.
The meeting of the Prime Minister’s top team broke up without reaching agreement on a final offer to present to Brussels.
But Mrs May raised the prospect of a possible second meeting within a week which could seal backing for a deal, as she assured senior Ministers that Cabinet would gather again at an “appropriate moment” before a deal.
Time appears to be running out for the PM to reach an agreement with Brussels, with a special Brexit summit of EU leaders previously mooted for November 17 now thought to have been ruled out.
A summit later in the month would be dependent on EU negotiator Michel Barnier declaring that “decisive progress” has been made in talks.
Mrs May’s official spokesman declined to be drawn on a timescale for agreement with the EU.
No additional Cabinet meeting has yet been scheduled ahead of the regular weekly gathering next Tuesday, he told reporters, adding: “Don’t be under any illusion, there remains a significant amount of work to do.”
Don’t be under any illusions, there remains significant work to do. Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman.
And Mr Barnier himself said a breakthrough on the Irish border issue was not close.
“For now, we are still negotiating and I am not, as I am speaking to you this morning, able to tell you that we are close to reaching an agreement,” he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.
“There is still a real point of divergence on the way of guaranteeing peace in Ireland, that there are no borders in Ireland, while protecting the integrity of the single market.”
Following the Cabinet meeting, Mrs May’s spokesman was working to ensure that ”the backstop, if ever needed, is not permanent and there is a mechanism to ensure the UK couldn’t be held in the arrangement indefinitely”.
He went on: “The Prime Minister said she was confident of reaching a deal.
“She said that, while the UK should aim to secure a withdrawal agreement as soon as possible, this would not be done at any cost. The Prime Minister said that, once agreement was reached on a withdrawal agreement, it remains the case that nothing is agreed until everything