Brexit backstop could be avoided if Theresa May drops red lines, EU parliament to say

Backstop would not need to be used with stronger future relationship, Brexit steering group to say

Theresa May could avoid taking Britain into the controversial Irish backstop if she changes her Brexit red-lines, the European Parliament is set to say.

A leaked draft of conclusions from a meeting of the body’s Brexit steering group seen by The Independent says tweaking the demands could see the UK “avoid deployment of the backstop”.

The intervention is the clearest signal yet from Brussels that it sees changes to the future UK-EU relationship as a way of neutralising the tricky issue. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the EU would “immediately” respond to any changes in position by the UK.

But despite the hints from Brussels, the prime minister has refused to budge – including on Labour demands for adopting single market common standards and a customs union.

Talks with opposition MPs last week appeared in vain, with those attending Downing Street reporting that Ms May read from a script during the meetings and gave nothing away.

The leaked statement also says that the EU committee, which is chaired by Guy Verfhofstadt and works closely with Mr Barnier, “expects greater clarity next week from the UK on its position on the EU-UK relationship for the future”.

But it reiterates the EU line that the backstop itself is not up for negotiation, and that the parliament would use its veto on any deal without it.

Eurosceptic MPs are implacably opposed to the Irish backstop, which locks the UK into some EU rules to help prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. They say it is a breach of sovereignty and are voting down the entire Brexit deal in opposition to it.

The policy is set to automatically trigger in 2021 if there is no trade deal between the UK and EU negotiated by then – or if the trade deal does not allow for frictionless trade.

But the EU says that prime minister’s red lines of leaving the single market, customs union, jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and ending free movement mean that frictionless trade for the whole would not be possible, and there would therefore be checks – which would require a backstop. The PM’s current plans for the future relationship effectively make the backstop’s use inevitable.

The deadlock has partly arisen because of the failure of the prime minister’s Chequers plan – which sought to get the UK frictionless trade with the bloc, but without many of the obligations that EU member states have to follow to get it.

The EU has said a deal increasingly known as “Norway+” would be required to remove all border checks: membership of a customs union while following single market rules. According to the logic of the parliament's statement, with this in place, the backstop would not be used.

But the prime minister is partly locked in to her red lines because changing or dropping them would likely further incense Tory eurosceptics – who are already pushing for a no-deal Brexit despite the prime minister steering a course for a hard Brexit.

The statement from the cross-party Brexit steering group says: “The Brexit steering group reiterated that the withdrawal agreement is fair and cannot be re-negotiated. This applies especially to the backstop, since it is the guarantee that under no circumstances will there be a hardening of the border on the island of Ireland while at the same time safeguarding the integrity of the Single Market.

“The EU remains clear, firm and united on this even if the negotiated backstop is not meant to be used. Therefore, the Brexit steering group insists that, without such an ‘all-weather’ backstop-insurance, the European Parliament will not give its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement.

“The Brexit steering group also reiterated Parliament’s long standing position that it is open to a much more ambitious future relationship, would the UK consider this. This would not only allow for a closer EU-UK future partnership but could also avoid deployment of the backstop. It expects greater clarity next week from the UK on its position on the EU-UK relationship for the future.”