DUP throws weight behind Brexit compromise plan backed by Tory Leavers and Remainers
4 min read
The DUP has come out in favour of an 11th-hour Brexit compromise plan drawn up in secretive talks between Tory Leavers and Remainers.
Party leader Arlene Foster - whose MPs have savaged Theresa May's Brexit deal over the Northern Ireland backstop - said the so-called 'Malthouse Compromise' could "unify" warring tribes in Parliament.
The plan - brokered by Housing Minister Kit Malthouse and backed by Conservative Remainer Nicky Morgan and leading Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker - looks to extend the current Brexit transition period for another year and proposes an alternative backstop to the current back-up plan attempt to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In a significant boost for the proposal, Ms Foster said the DUP's MPs had held talks this morning and agreed to swing behind it - as well as an amendment seeking to curb the backstop which Theresa May urged Tory troops to get behind last night.
"The DUP has given its endorsement to the plan," she said in a statement. "We believe it can unify a number of strands in the Brexit debate including the views of remainers and leavers. It also gives a feasible alternative to the backstop proposed by the European Union which would split the United Kingdom or keep the entire United Kingdom in the Customs Union and Single Market.
"Importantly, this proposal would also offer a route towards negotiating a future trade relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
"If the Prime Minister is seeking to find a united front, both between elements in her own party and the DUP, in the negotiations which she will enter with the European Union, then this is a proposition which she should not turn her back on.
"There is no better time to advance this alternative given the confusion and disarray which is now manifesting itself in Brussels. This has been displayed both by the contradictory EU statements and the panic stricken behaviour of the Irish government."
Brexiteers and the DUP have long opposed the current backstop plan, which they argue would leave the UK stuck in the EU's regulatory orbit indefinitely if it is triggered.
Instead, the Malthouse Compromise floats an alternative backstop based on technological fixes that its proponents say would be "capable of securing wide consent", and argues that no fresh infrastructure is needed at the Northern Ireland border.
In a bid to get the EU on side, the plan also says Britain would continue to guarantee rights for EU citizens and commit to paying its £39bn divorce bill - plus additional cash for the lengthened transition period.
It meanwhile includes a 'plan B' element for a "managed" no-deal Brexit if the two sides cannot agree a future trade deal.
FOX: WE'LL REOPEN WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT
But the proposal has already been given a frosty reception by one Cabinet minister - and there are major doubts over whether the EU would be willing to reopen the withdrawal agreement to change the backstop after years of talks.
Brexiteer International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told TalkRadio this morning that the Malthouse plan "sounds like an awful lot of different ideas all rolled into one" and urges MPs "to vote on something deliverable".
Instead, he sought to get MPs behind a Number 10-supported amendment tabled by influentiual Conservative backbencher Sir Graham Brady that calls for the backstop to be replaced with "alternative arrangements" - and made clear that Mrs May would now seek to reopen the withdrawal agreement to make this happen.
He told the BBC: "They [MPs] want to know, 'Does the government have a commitment to legally binding text, would the government open up the withdrawal agreement to achieve this?' And the answer to that question would be 'yes'."
But the European Commission's Deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand said last night: "We looked at every border on this earth, every border the EU has with a third country. There’s simply no way you can do away with checks and controls."
She added: "The EU27 were unanimous: a time limit to the backstop defeats the purpose of the backstop. We’re not going to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement."
Conservative Remainer Anna Soubry - speaking on behalf of the People's Vote campaign for a second referendum - meanwhile tore into the "desperate measures" being floated in the Malthouse plan.
"The prospect of the EU ripping up the Withdrawal Agreement or allowing a transition period without the backstop is very remote - and for good reason given the risks to the Irish peace process," she said.
"Instead, this scheme backed by Jacob Rees-Mogg is a recipe for the no deal Brexit that the hard Brexiters have always craved."
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