The last-ditch battle to change Brexit backstop before draft deal is done
May is urged to press for escape route from the EU’s customs union
BREXITEER Cabinet ministers last night urged Theresa May to press for last-ditch concessions to stop Britain from being tied to the EU’s customs union indefinitely.
As the Prime Minister was holding talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox and other Eurosceptics were understood to be convinced changes could still be made to the so-called Northern Ireland “backstop”.
The EU insists the withdrawal agreement cannot be revised.
One plan involves ensuring the backstop – to prevent full-scale customs checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic – becomes a bilateral arrangement between London and Dublin, rather than involving the entire EU.
Supporters believe it would prevent Brussels using the backstop as a ruse for keeping Britain locked into a permanent customs union. The ministers believe their idea and other guarantees can be attached as an “addendum” to the withdrawal agreement in time for Sunday’s EU summit.
One Eurosceptic Cabinet minister said: “There is a very creative mood in the Government. People are open to ideas to sort this out.
“Everyone around the Cabinet table wants to work together to find creative solutions to the outstanding issues.
“Even if the main text of the withdrawal agreement is set in stone, it must be possible to add changes in other ways such as attaching an addendum or an appendix to it.
“In any international negotiation, you always find that diplomats are capable of finding ways of amending a text right up to the moment when it is agreed.” Eurosceptic ministers hope securing last-gasp concessions could mollify Brexiteer MPs threatening to vote down the deal in the Commons next month.
It also emerged yesterday that Chief Whip Julian Smith advised Mrs May that she must wring more concessions out of the EU to have any hope of winning Commons backing for the deal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel set her face against any change to the deal yesterday.
She told her parliament: “We have placed value, and I think this is right, on the fact that Britain cannot decide unilaterally when it ends the state of the customs union, but that Britain must decide this together with the EU.”
Mrs Merkel said Germany would back the agreement at Sunday’s summit and hoped objections by Spain to the treatment of Gibraltar would be “solved” by then.
Tory backbenchers sounded fresh warnings about the backstop during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons yesterday, before Mrs May headed to Brussels.
Romford MP Andrew Rosindell told Mrs May people in his constituency were “deeply unhappy” about the proposed EU deal.
He urged the Prime Minister to “please think again, even at this late stage”, and lead the UK in a new direction, “completely cutting away the tentacles of the EU from our cherished island nation once and for all”.
MP Neil Parish said Mrs May faced “a difficult and tough job”, but urged her: “Please will the Prime Minister listen to these concerns and renegotiate the deal before we put it before the House?”
Defending the deal, Mrs May told MPs: “I think that people across the country who voted to leave the European Union voted to bring an end to free movement. Our deal delivers an end to free movement.
“They voted to bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK. Our deal delivers an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
“They voted for us to stop sending vast sums of money to the European Union every year so that we could spend that money on our priorities, and we will be able to spend it on priorities such as the National Health Service.”
Mrs May warned that rejecting her deal could mean there would be no Brexit at all.
“If you look at the alternative to having that deal with the European Union, it will either be more uncertainty, more division, or it could risk
no Brexit at all,” she said. Meanwhile, new Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd risked angering Brexiteers yesterday by suggesting a no-deal Brexit was off the negotiating table because MPs would reject such an outcome.
Her remarks appeared to conflict with the Prime Minister’s insistence that no deal with the EU was preferable to a bad deal.
Ms Rudd told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is my view that the House of Commons will stop no deal. There isn’t a majority in the House of Commons to allow that to take place.”
Former Remain campaigner Ms Rudd, who replaced Leave-backing Esther McVey in the Cabinet following her resignation last week, added: “If it doesn’t get through, anything could happen. The Brexiteers may lose their Brexit.”
Careful
Ms Rudd made it clear she expected MPs to rally behind Mrs May, saying: “I don’t think we are looking at another referendum.
“I think people will take a careful look over the abyss – MPs of all parties – and consider whether they think it is in the best interests of the whole country. I think the likelihood is...that the withdrawal agreement will get through.”
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “After these comments from Amber Rudd, it’s time for the Government to drop the false choice between a bad deal and no deal, and to come forward with a plan that can command the majority support of Parliament.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Amber Rudd exposes the falsity of the PM’s tactics – it is not a choice between her bad deal or no deal. There are better alternatives.”