EU leaders rebuff May’s pleas for help to sell Brexit at home
EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS SAY BRITISH PM WAS NOT CLEAR HOW SHE CAN GET DEAL ENDORSED
British Prime Minister Theresa May returned to face EU leaders yesterday after they rebuffed her pleas for help to sell her Brexit plan back home and warned of the growing threat of a “no deal”.
May had sought to persuade her 27 colleagues she could overcome huge opposition to the divorce deal among British MPs if they gave her some assurances over the thorny problem of the Irish border.
But they were not convinced, and European diplomats said May had been unable to explain what she wanted or how she could deliver a British parliamentary majority to endorse the deal.
“The signals we heard yesterday were not particularly reassuring on Britain’s capacity to honour the commitments that were made,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michael said.
All scenarios
“So we will make sure to prepare for all scenarios and prepare also for a no deal scenario,” he added, as he arrived for the second and final day of the EU summit.
On Thursday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker repeated statements made all week by European leaders that “there is no room whatsoever for renegotiation” of the deal.
May postponed a vote in the House of Commons this week on the Brexit deal to avoid a crushing defeat, but has promised it will take place next month, by January 21 at the latest.
This is uncomfortably close to Britain’s scheduled exit day on March 29, 2019 — and Juncker said he was stepping up preparations in case it leaves with no deal in place.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz added yesterday: “There is a withdrawal deal, and there is an urgent necessity to take decisions. We should avoid a no deal scenario.”
She left with less
May did not speak as she arrived for the summit, where she met with French President Emmanuel Macron before EU-wide discussions on migration, Russia and climate change.
She came to Brussels wounded ■ by a confidence vote on Wednesday night, which she won but in which 117 MPs — more than onethird of her Conservative party — voted to oust her.
Opposition to the Brexit deal in Britain is focused on a socalled “backstop” arrangement designed to keep open the border with Ireland if and until a new UK-EU trade deal is signed.
May is seeking “legal and political assurances” that this will not keep Britain trapped indefinitely in an EU customs union.
Several EU leaders have talked of offering “clarifications” and “explanations”, and a statement issued after they talked without May late Thursday emphasised they will try to ensure the backstop is never triggered. behind the vote to leave the bloc. An offer by the EU to change would show “that the political leadership of Europe and Britain had listened to the underlying concerns of those who voted [for] Brexit, not disrespecting the concerns but meeting them in a way which is not damaging”.
Blair has repeatedly called for reversing Brexit since the 2016 referendum, echoing other critics including French President Emmanuel Macron, who have suggested Britain could still change its mind.
The former prime minister, who won three general elections for Labour, remains a deeply divisive figure in Britain for joining the United States in the Iraq conflict in 2003 after the invasion was found to be based on flawed intelligence.
But, while an early draft of the conclusions said the EU “stands ready to examine whether any further assurances can be provided” on the backstop, this was removed from the final version.
“Colleagues were so exasperated that she left with less than she could have got,” a European source said.