Blow for Theresa May as Irish deputy PM warns of no further compromise on Brexit backstop
3 min read
The EU will not accept any fresh changes to the Northern Ireland backstop to save Theresa May's Brexit deal, Ireland's deputy Prime Minister has warned Britain.
In a major blow for Mrs May’s plans to tweak elements of the contentious plan - which seeks to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland if trade talks break down - Simon Coveney said neither Ireland nor the EU would concede any new changes to the legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement on Brexit.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, the Irish Deputy PM said the backstop proposal had been created specifically to cater for red lines set down by the Prime Minister herself.
And he vowed that Ireland would “insist on the United Kingdom keeping to its word.”
“The backstop is already a compromise," he said.
"It is a series of compromises that were designed around British red lines. So don’t forget initially it was an agreement between the EU and the UK that there was the need for a fall-back or an insurance mechanism to reassure people in Northern Ireland.
“When the EU designed what became known as the backstop - on the back of that political agreement of more than a year ago - the British Prime Minister said she didn’t like it and needed it changed. So it was re-designed.
“It was Britain that actually asked [for] the backstop [to] be UK-wide on customs in terms of creating this concept of a single customs territory.
“It was the UK that insisted on review mechanisms for the backstop so it could be changed or removed if everybody agreed to that.
"And the very need for the backstop in the first place was because of British red lines that they wanted to leave the single market and customs union as well as the European Union.”
'NO PRAGMATIC ALTERNATIVE'
On Tuesday MPs will vote on a string of alternatives to Mrs May's deal, with several Conservative MPs pushing amendments looking to add new clarifications to the backstop, including a time-limit.
But Mr Coveney rejected the Tory bids to tweak the deal, saying that the Withdrawal Agreement was part of a “balanced package that isn’t going to change.”
“The problem with arguing against the backstop is that nobody yet who argues against that insurance mechanism… has come up with a pragmatic, sensible and legally sound way of avoiding border infrastructure emerging between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland,” he said.
“So the Irish position is that we have already made a series of compromises here, and that has resulted in what is proposed in the Withdrawal Agreement. And Ireland has the same position as the European Union, I think, that the backstop as part of the Withdrawal Agreement is part of a balanced package that isn’t going to change.
Speaking after the interview, Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied the comments had damaged Mrs May’s chances of being able to secure concessions to the Withdrawal Agreement.
“Not at all," he said.
"The Irish are looking for pragmatic solutions. That is the negotiating position the Irish are taking. It is extremely clear… that Ireland doesn't want to have a no-deal Brexit. In fact the whole purpose of the backstop is to avoid a a hard border, which risks being a consequence of a no-deal Brexit.
"The idea that the European Union and Irish give would drive this process to a no-deal exit in order to try and achieve something that is intended to avoid a no-deal Brexit. That is not going to happen. We need to assess what is going to get a majority in the Commons, and then we need to take it to the EU."
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