Changes to backstop unlikely to win over Commons, May warned

Tories on both side of the Brexit debate call for ‘Plan C’ to be taken seriously

THERESA MAY is today warned by a group of Tory MPS attempting to break the Brexit deadlock that the Northern Ireland backstop is a “monumental” issue that will not be resolved with a “few cursory tweaks”.

Three former Cabinet ministers who helped draw up a Brexit “Plan C”, known as the Malthouse Compromise, say it appears the Prime Minister has forgotten that her deal was defeated by 230 votes last month.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph (below left), the Brexiteers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson join Remainer Nicky Morgan in warning that the backstop “in anything like its present form” is “never” going to pass in the Commons.

They also warn that supporting Labour plans to keep Britain in the Customs Union will be a breach of the Conservative Party manifesto, leave the UK tied to the EU’S trade policy and “renege” on the result of the referendum.

The article suggests that the fragile truce between the Prime Minister and her backbenchers is under significant strain.

A government source said that while Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, is taking the Malthouse Compromise seriously, Downing Street privately believes it is unlikely to succeed.

It comes after the Prime Minister said in a speech in Belfast earlier this week that she is now seeking to make “changes” to the backstop rather than scrap it, as some Eurosceptic Tory MPS have demanded.

Writing in The Telegraph, the Tory MPS say: “It is almost

‘These are problems, and will not be overcome with a few cursory tweaks’

as if the Prime Minister has forgotten the scale of the original Withdrawal Agreement’s defeat (by 230 votes) or how unacceptable the backstop proposals remain to significant numbers of MPS on both sides of the House.

“These are monumental problems, and will not be overcome with a few cursory tweaks. The backstop in anything like its present form is simply never going to pass the Commons.”

The Malthouse Compromise, which is named after its “convener” Kit Malthouse, the housing minister, would see Britain settling most of the £39 billion divorce bill in return for a three-year transition out of the EU.

If a deal cannot be done in time, the UK would then leave on World Trade Organisation terms. The Irish backstop would be replaced by a technological solution to the Northern Ireland border problem.

The Prime Minister was last night having dinner with Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, in an attempt to break the deadlock in negotiations.

It comes after Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said earlier this week that there is a “special place in hell” reserved for Brexiteers.

It yesterday emerged that Mrs May told Mr Tusk that 30 Tory MPS will never back a deal unless changes are made to the Irish backstop. She also warned that her party will never unite behind demands by Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, for Britain to stay in the customs union.

Mr Tusk had suggested that the Labour leader’s letter could present a way out of the impasse in the House of Commons at their meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

Mr Tusk accused Mrs May, of “running down the clock”. The Prime Minister had told him that she was not looking to extend the Article 50 deadline.

This was putting extreme pressure on the Brexit process and on ordinary people who were worried about what would happen, he said.