Prime minister Theresa May will on Thursday launch a round of EU diplomacy as she seeks “clarifications” to sell her Brexit deal to sceptical MPs, who return to Westminster next week ahead of a vote on the package.
May is seeking assurances that a so-called backstop plan, aimed at avoiding a hard Irish border, will be time-limited, the report said.
A report on the Financial Times says “May is expected to speak this week to EU leaders including German chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and European Council president Donald Tusk in an attempt to break the Brexit logjam.
Mrs May is seeking legally binding assurances that a so-called backstop plan — intended to avoid a hard Irish border, based on proposals for a temporary UK-EU customs union — will be time-limited.”
The report adds that Brussels has so far refused to offer such assurances. Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday the prime minister wanted to give MPs confidence that Britain could not be “trapped” in a customs union with the EU. “Theresa May has been very clear: this isn’t just about words but about text which has legal force,” he added.
Full report can be accessed here.
