Rees-mogg admits to an ‘outbreak of realism’
JACOB REES-MOGG softened his opposition to Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement yesterday as he said there had been “outbreaks of realism” among Conservative Brexiteers.
The chairman of the European Research Group of Tory Eurosceptic MPS signalled the Irish border backstop issue was now the only major obstacle standing in the way of support for the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal.
The ERG has previously cited the £39billion Brexit bill and the prospect of the UK remaining under the jurisdiction of European courts as reasons it could not back the deal. But yesterday Mr Rees-mogg said, “overwhelmingly the biggest problem is the backstop”.
It is likely to boost hopes inside Downing Street of salvaging Mrs May’s deal, which was crushed by MPS when it was put to a vote earlier this month.
However, Mr Rees-mogg, the MP for North East Somerset, made clear that he and the ERG would only back Mrs May if she secured a legally binding change to the backstop, warning that anything short of changes to the legal text with Brussels would be unacceptable. “We are on the alert for meaningless soft soap,” he said. His support is key if Mrs May is to have any hope of her deal being agreed by the Commons, as he can sway the vast majority of the ERG’S estimated 60 MPS. “There are outbreaks of realism all around I see,” he said. “All along we have been asking merely for the possible, not the impossible.
“And late in the day as the EU has inevitably left it, I’m sure common sense and practicality will now prevail.”
The EU has long maintained that the Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out the terms of the UK’S divorce from Brussels, cannot be renegotiated. But Mr Rees-mogg said the shared desire for a deal between the British, the Irish and the EU meant a breakthrough on the backstop remained possible.
He told the Bruges Group think tank in central London: “Everybody wants a deal. The Prime Minister wants a deal, the EU wants a deal, the Irish want a deal. If the only way to get it is by reopening the text, that is what they will have to do. This is realpolitik. If they do that then people like me will consider what is done. But what people like me are not saying is here is a blank cheque to get a few more words and then suddenly we will change our minds. It has to be legally binding.”
The backstop protocol is designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event no future trade deal can be agreed and would effectively mean the UK having to stay in a customs union with the EU indefinitely.
The Government has been urged to seek a unilateral exit mechanism for the UK, or an expiry date.
Mr Rees-mogg said: “I am a very easygoing sort of fellow. If an amendment were to be made to say that the following pages do not apply but they remain in the text, I would accept that, so there are variants around it just being cut out.
“But it has to be clear that the backstop does not apply. The backstop is not Brexit. That is the problem with the backstop. It is why the EU wants it and it is why I don’t. As long as that backstop is there I will not vote for this deal.”