NOW BREXIT BLAME GAME BEGINS
Boris accuses EU of failing to engage with his plan – then they leak objections
THE Brexit blame game began last night as talks on a last-minute deal teetered on the brink.
With only nine days until next week’s crunch Brussels summit, Boris Johnson accused EU leaders of failing to engage with his ‘very generous’ offer.
While technical talks between officials continued yesterday, EU leaders have so far refused to hold face-to-face talks with Mr Johnson on his plan for replacing the controversial Irish backstop.
The Prime Minister said Brussels had been presented with ‘a big step forward, big advance, big compromise by the UK Government’, but had so far refused to engage with the details.
He added: ‘ What we’re saying to our friends is, this is a very generous, fair and reasonable offer we’ve made. What we’d like to hear from you now is what your thoughts are. And if you have issues with any of the proposals that we’ve come up with, then let’s get into the detail and discuss them. It’s time for us to get together and really thrash this thing out.’
But EU officials responded last night by leaking to The Guardian a point-by-point rejection of the UK’s offer.
The ‘confidential’ report said the Prime Minister’s plan to take Northern Ireland out of the customs union would cause ‘major disruption to the all-Ireland economy’.
And it said Brussels did not accept that the people of Northern Ireland should be asked to consent to the idea of the province remaining aligned to EU rules after Brexit.
The report is said to have been delivered last Friday to Mr Johnson’s chief EU adviser David Frost.
A UK official responded: ‘Rather than writing documents in order to leak them, the EU’s time would be better spent on engaging with our sensible and fair proposals, so the UK can leave with a deal when we exit the EU on October 31.’
With both sides anxious to avoid the blame for a breakdown in talks, Government sources said officials were drawing up their own report setting out the concessions Mr Johnson had made in response to the EU’s previous demands. These include asking Northern Ireland to remain in the single market for goods after Brexit in order to reduce the need for border checks. One source said: ‘The truth is that we have already moved a long way – we have made some very significant concessions. The EU has banked them and basically said, thank you very much, but we are not going to move one millimetre. That is not the basis for a serious negotiation.’ Tory sources last night confirmed Mr Johnson might even boycott next week’s summit unless EU leaders agree to discuss his plans.
And EU diplomats suggested leaders could use the summit to instead discuss another Brexit extension, despite the fact Mr Johnson has ruled out asking for one.
No 10 yesterday insisted it had not abandoned hopes of a last-minute breakthrough, with Mr Johnson speaking by phone with the leaders of Sweden, Denmark and Poland.
The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘We are ready to have discussions at pace, but for that to happen the EU needs to engage.’
But Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok yesterday suggested the two sides were still far apart. Speaking after ‘frank and honest’ talks with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, he said the UK needed to provide ‘more realism and reality’.
Brussels yesterday ruled out the idea of reaching a deal this week that is significantly different to what has previously been offered.
One official said the most that could be offered with the time left would be reverting to a tweaked ‘off-the-shelf’ model, such as the Northern Ireland-only backstop.
This is a red line for Mr Johnson as it would involve Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union. The EU source said: ‘In terms of what [Boris Johnson’s plan] requires in technical work, it won’t be done before the summit.
‘What can be done in the time frame is going to other, off-theshelf models with tweaks. There’s two ways up from this that end with a deal: one is that it turns out Boris Johnson has more leeway and his priority is to have a deal by October 31 and we go for an off theshelf model with tweaks, or two, this is part of a longer process [following an extension].’ They said Mr Johnson’s plan would involve Michel Barnier seeking a change to his negotiating mandate given by the remaining 27 member states, which would have to be agreed at the summit.
EU diplomats say leaders will almost certainly grant the UK an extension at the summit and that they will likely agree on the January 31 date set by Remain MPs.
This is due to decisions having to be made on the EU’s next budget cycle, which runs from 2021-27.
The bloc aims to sign the budget off by June and would like Britain to leave by then, but sources believe it could take longer.
EU sources said talks yesterday with Mr Frost revolved around further ‘clarifications and questions’, but that in reality the discussions were going nowhere.
‘UK must provide realism and reality’