'Just one more push' to get Brexit, May urges EU
GRIMSBY, England (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May urged the European Union on Friday to make “just one more push” to break the Brexit deadlock but proposals from the bloc’s chief negotiator fell short of anything that would win over the British parliament.
Three weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU, May has failed so far to secure the changes to her divorce deal that she believes would gain the support of MPs, who handed the government a defeat of record proportions in January.
At the heart of the dispute is the so-called Northern Irish backstop, an insurance policy to prevent a return of border controls between the British province and EU member Ireland that Britain wants to change to ease fears in parliament.
But that dispute looked far from being resolved after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s proposals were dismissed as a return to “old ideas” already rejected in talks.
A government source summed up the feeling in London by saying it was “not impressed”.
With no changes to offer parliament, May looks set to lose her second attempt on Tuesday to get MPs’ approval of her deal and smooth Britain’s exit from the EU, the country’s biggest shift in trade and foreign policy in more than 40 years.
In a last-ditch appeal to the EU and to MPs at home, May said in a speech on Friday it was time to end the uncertainty over Brexit by approving the deal. Otherwise, Britain faced a “moment of crisis”.
The Brexit effort “needs just one more push to address the final, specific concerns of our parliament,” she said in the northern English port of Grimsby, where 70 percent voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
“So let’s not hold back. Let’s do what is necessary for MPs (members of parliament) to back the deal on Tuesday.”
After she spoke, Barnier announced he was ready to give Britain the unilateral right to leave the EU customs union.
But he said London would need to honour its commitment to keep the Irish border free of controls, potentially leaving Northern Ireland subject to EU rules, with a “border” in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the island of Britain.
That requirement has been rejected previously by London and would be particularly unpalatable to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s government in parliament and opposes any proposals for Northern Ireland to have different rules from the rest of the United Kingdom.
Stephen Barclay, Britain’s Brexit minister, said it was “not the time to rerun old arguments. The UK has put forward clear new proposals. We now need to agree a balanced solution that can work for both sides”.
The DUP was equally unimpressed, with Nigel Dodds, its deputy leader, calling the proposal “neither realistic nor sensible”.