Johnson tears up backstop in talks push

PM demands new arrangements with EU after clash with Irish premier over border

BORIS JOHNSON last night tore up the Northern Irish backstop and demanded new terms for the UK to leave the EU with a deal in 10 weeks’ time.

In a letter to the EU he said the backstop was “anti-democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK” and it risked “weakening the delicate balance embodied in the Belfast ( Good Friday) Agreement”. He said: “The backstop cannot form part of an agreed Withdrawal Agreement. That is a fact that we must both acknowledge.” He proposed replacing the backstop with “flexible and creative” arrangements to manage a soft border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

It came after a one-hour phone call in which the Prime Minister and Leo Varadkar, the Irish premier, clashed over the backstop. Tomorrow Mr Johnson heads to Berlin for dinner with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, before lunch in Paris with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, on Thursday, to persuade them both to agree that the EU should remove the backstop.

The week ends with Mr Johnson’s first appearance on the global stage when he represents Britain at the G7 meeting of world leaders in Biarritz in the south of France.

Mr Johnson has made the removal of the backstop – which will keep the UK in a customs union and the single market after Brexit until a solution is found to prevent a hard border – a central part of his plans to take the UK out of the EU by Oct 31. In his letter to Donald Tusk, the EU Council president, he said he could not endorse “full alignment with wide areas of the single market and customs union” after Brexit. “That cannot be the basis for the future relationship and it is not a basis for the sound governance of Northern Ireland.”

He told Mr Tusk both the UK and EU should agree neither side “will put in infrastructure, checks or controls at the border” and said the backstop should be replaced with “alternative arrangements” north and south to allow the sides to monitor movements of goods and people without a hard border.

The majority of MPS would agree to a deal without the backstop, he said, adding Parliament could act rapidly if it reached “a satisfactory agreement that did not contain the backstop”.

Last night’s call with Mr Varadkar broke up with neither side agreeing a way forward. They will meet for further talks in Dublin next month but a joint statement said: “The PM indicated the Withdrawal Agreement in its current form will not get through the House of Commons, that the backstop would need to be removed and that an alternative solution is required. The Taoiseach reiterated the EU27 position that the agreement cannot be reopened and emphasised the legally operable guarantee to ensure no hard border and continued free trade on the island of Ireland.”

Senator Neale Richmond, EU affairs spokesman for Fine Gael, Ireland’s ruling party, last night tweeted: “Nothing new, alas.”

Last night, an unnamed EU diplomat representing a country traditionally friendly to the UK, said: “Hope and imagination don’t keep the border away. This letter is not request to renegotiate – it’s an attempt to avoid it at all cost.”

JEREMY CORBYN appealed yesterday to Conservative “no-deal” rebels to help him bring down Boris Johnson.

Pledging to push forward with a vote of no confidence in the Government, the Labour leader challenged the rebel Tories who could vote to stop a no-deal Brexit to help install him as Prime Minister for a limited period to prevent the UK leaving the European Union without a deal.

The rebel group has been revealed by The Daily Telegraph to contain as many as 40 disgruntled MPS.

Mr Corbyn promised to call a general election after stopping a no-deal Brexit, a deal he initially offered to opposition parties last week. That proposal has fallen flat, with Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, warning that Mr Corbyn does not command enough support for a Commons majority.

After Mr Corbyn gave his speech in Corby, Northants, some of his supporters heckled journalists who asked if he would step aside to allow someone else to oversee a temporary administration.

A woman was cheered as she called out: “He is our leader, not the Press or Boris Johnson or Jo Swanson (sic).”

Mr Corbyn replied: “All the constitutional precedents are, when a government collapses, it’s the leader of the Opposition that takes over. There seems to be a lot of very imaginative ‘what-iffery’ in the press.”

Ms Swinson wrote on Twitter: “MPS from several parties have said they will not support Jeremy Corbyn as PM. If he is unwilling to get behind another candidate, he risks delivering the no-deal Brexit he claims he wants to stop.”

Turning his focus to Tory MPS opposed to the plan to leave the EU on Oct 31 with or without an agreement, Mr Corbyn said: “If MPS are serious about stopping a no-deal crash-out, they will vote down this reckless Government.”

He added: “We will work together with the MPS from across Parliament to pull our country back from the brink. I will bring a vote of no confidence … and if successful, I would seek to form a time-limited caretaker administration to avert no deal, and call an immediate general election so the people can decide our country’s future.”

Mr Corbyn also called for Parliament to be recalled to allow MPS to debate Brexit, saying: “Do we support the recall of Parliament? Yes indeed, I have made that very clear.” No 10 has insisted Parliament will not be recalled.

Downing Street is at odds with the Tory rebels, led by Philip Hammond, the former chancellor, over a leak of a document setting out the Government’s no-deal planning.

A No 10 source accused the group of leaking the details to undermine Mr Johnson’s talks this week with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.