Theresa May faces a frantic 48 hours to try save her Brexit negotiating strategy after she admitted talks had ground to a halt because of the EU’s insistence upon a Northern Ireland backstop.
The prime minister is expected to plead with EU leaders to drop their Irish backstop proposal at a make or break summit dinner on Wednesday night, after seeking the support of members of her cabinet on Tuesday morning.
With time running out before Wednesday’s meeting, May used an emergency Commons statement to say the EU’s plan “threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom” because it could lead to the creation of a customs border in the Irish Sea.
Leo Varadkar, Irish prime minister, acknowledged that no breakthrough would be made at the EU summit in Brussels when he said: “I figure November, December is probably the best opportunity for a deal, but this is a dynamic situation — we’re always open to compromise.”
The Brexit talks reached an impasse after some of Mrs May’s Eurosceptic ministers warned her on Sunday they could not sign up to a Brexit deal that left the UK locked in a supposedly temporary customs union with the EU that at the same time had no time limit.
Donald Tusk, European Council president, was watching Mrs May’s Commons statement and was relieved to see she did not play to her Eurosceptic audience by blaming Brussels for the stand-off. Mr Tusk, in a pre-summit letter to EU leaders, said it was right to prepare for a possible breakdown in Brexit talks, but added: “We should nevertheless remain hopeful and determined, as there is goodwill to continue with these talks on both sides.”
Mrs May’s restrained rhetoric was partly aimed at avoiding a repeat of last month’s acrimonious meeting of EU leaders in Salzburg, and to keep negotiations on track ahead of a possible special Brexit summit in November that could sign off on an exit agreement. The EU is expected to temper its criticisms of Mrs May at this week’s summit — while making clear that it is the UK, not the bloc, that is under time pressure to find a deal. While EU diplomats preparing for the summit doubt the November event will be cancelled, the bloc’s approach is not finalised. Several options are being considered.
The Guardian / FT
