Theresa May says EU response to UK Brexit plan ‘ not acceptable’
UK govt hits back as EU leader calls May’s divorce plan ‘ unworkable’
At this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side’s proposals without a detailed explanation and counter proposals — Theresa May, British Prime Minister
The British government on Friday accused the European Union of slamming the handbrake on Brexit negotiations, after the bloc said Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint was unworkable.
European Council President Donald Tusk said bluntly at a meeting in Salzburg, Austria on Thursday that parts of Ms May’s plan simply “will not work,” while French President Emmanuel Macron called pro- Brexit UK politicians “liars” who had misled the country about the costs of leaving the 28- nation bloc.
A rattled Ms May insisted that her plan was the only one on the table — and that Britain was prepared to walk away from the EU without a deal if it was rejected.
The rebuff sparked British headlines saying May had been “humiliated,” and a strong response from the UK government.
Brexit secretary Dominic Raab accused the EU of rejecting Britain’s proposals without offering “credible alternatives” and said that the bloc had “yanked up the handbrake” on negotiations.
“For the negotiations to go forward they’re going to have to take their hand off the handbrake,” he said.
Ms May’s Downing St. office said that the Prime Minister would make a televised statement on the Brexit talks on Friday afternoon. There was no indication of what she planned to say.
The rocky summit dashed British hopes of a breakthrough in stalled divorce talks, with just six months to go until Britain leaves the bloc on March 29.
The judgment of British newspapers was brutal. The broadly pro- EU
Guardian said Ms May had been “humiliated.” The conservative Times of
London said: “Humiliation for May as EU rejects Brexit plan.”
The Brexit- supporting tabloid Sun branded bloc leaders “EU dirty rats,” accusing “Euro mobsters” Tusk and Macron of “ambushing” May.
Despite all the heated British rhetoric, the EU’s position is not new. Ms May’s “Chequers plan” — named for the Prime Minister’s country retreat where it was hammered out in July — aims to keep the UK in the EU single market for goods, but not services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. EU officials have been cool on the plan from the start, saying Britain can’t “cherrypick” elements of membership in the bloc without accepting all the costs and responsibilities.