PM: Chequers blueprint is the right plan

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has rejected the EU’s proposed olive branch on the Brexit backstop, saying it would still mean a border in the Irish Sea.

Mr Dodds was speaking as EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier suggested Brussels might improve its offer on the border.

The DUP MP said: “So Michel Barnier says he can do different kinds of checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK as if that makes it more palatable. The fundamental point is that internal UK checks are only needed if it is intended to separate Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

“Despite the talk of ‘improvements’, the backstop being insisted upon by the EU would mean a different regime for Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK. It still means a border down the Irish Sea, although with different kinds of checks.” Mr Dodds added: “The fact is that both Theresa May and the Labour Party have said no British Prime Minister could accept such a concept. It is not just unionists who object.

“And anyone with the desire to see our economy prosper will not want to see barriers put in the way of sales to and from our biggestmarketintherestoftheUK.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said a mere change of language was pointless if there was no change in substance in the EU backstop proposal.

“Anything suggested to date does not address the fundamental objection that the EU demand is to retain Northern Ireland within its single market and customs union and subject to EU law,” he said.

“Such annexation of this part of the UK is anathema and can never be dressed up as acceptable.”

He said Mr Barnier was now

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, and (right) DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds

suggesting smart technology could be used to operate an Irish Sea border.

“If so, then, equally it could be used on a NI/Ireland border, confirming EU’s opposition to such at the Irish border is indeed motivated by Brussels’ political aim of annexing NI and breaking up the UK,” he claimed.

UUP MEP Jim Nicholson said Northern Ireland’s constitutional position wasn’t a bargaining chip for getting a Brexit deal over the line. He urged the Government to “uphold the commitments it has already made in protecting the constitutional integrity of the UK”.

He said: “Ever since the commission put pen to paper in

March with its draft withdrawal treaty, with its version of a ‘backstop’ that would see Northern Ireland cut adrift from the rest of the UK, Michel Barnier has been on a mission of ‘de-dramatisation’.

“It is clear that Brussels did not expect the level of opposition from unionism and from parties across Parliament that its proposals received.”

He described as “unconvincing” Mr Barnier’s attempt to emphasise that any checks between Northern Ireland and Britain would not be intrusive, would build on existing checks, and could be easily managed.

“It is vital that the UK Government stands firm on this issue and upholds the commitments it has already made,” Mr Nicholson said.

“The number one priority for any unionist as we approach crunch time in these negotiations is the constitutional integrity of the UK.”

But Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry welcomed the EU’s efforts and called upon the Government to respond positively.

“Alliance is encouraged at continued efforts by Michael Barnier and the EU’s Article 50 Taskforce to reach a conclusion on the backstop. The backstop must be an essential component of any Withdrawal Agreement,” he said.

“Therefore to avoid the catastrophic no deal situation, the UK Government does need to reach an agreement on this point. The backstop carries the minimum required to avoid a hard border and to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

“The backstop must be seen in purely pragmatic and economic terms. It is not a constitutional question.”

It would be “a tragic and historic mistake if intransigence around the backstop... condemns Northern Ireland to economic stagnation and even deeper political turmoil”, he added. THERESA May has insisted her Chequers plan is the only possible route to a Brexit deal after European Union chiefs told her key elements of the proposals had to be “reworked”.

The Prime Minister was using a gathering of EU leaders in Salzburg to personally set out the government’s blueprint for Brexit but was warned that time is running out to reach a deal.

European Council president Donald Tusk said the Prime Minister’s Chequers blueprint was a “welcome evolution” in the UK’s approach but major issues remained to be resolved including avoiding a hard border in Ireland and the future trading relationship between Britain and the EU.

Warning that there was “less and less time” to reach a deal before the UK’s March 29, 2019, exit date, Mr Tusk confirmed he would propose an emergency EU Brexit summit in November.

Arriving at the meeting in Salzburg, Mrs May said Chequers was “the only credible and negotiable plan on the table that delivers no hard border in Northern Ireland and also delivers on the vote of the British people”.

She added: “If we are going to achieve a successful conclusion then, just as the UK has evolved its position, the EU will need to evolve its position too.”

Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis has described Chequers as a “non-starter”. In extracts of a speech he plans to deliver in Munich today, Mr Davis said the PM’s plan crossed all of her own negotiating red lines.

❝ Both Theresa May and the Labour Party have said no British PM could accept such a concept