Brexit: EU says Britain can leave backstop but Northern Ireland must stay

Michel Barnier makes final offer on Irish border that falls short of Theresa May’s demands

Britain and the EU have publicly locked horns, with the government accusing Brussels of trying to “rerun old arguments” as clock ticks down to find a compromise deal during Brexit talks.

In an extraordinary exchange on social media, Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay demanded the EU agree to “balanced proposals” instead of going over old ground.

Just two hours earlier, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier indicated that if the UK did not like the deal on the table, it could accept an alternative already outright rejected by Theresa May earlier in the negotiating process.

The offer from Mr Barnier points to an EU machine frustrated with British attempts to try to re-write the “Irish backstop” so hated by Conservative MPs, but deemed absolutely indispensable by Brussels.

At lunch time Ms May gave a speech with a pointed message for the EU, demanding it give more ground so a compromise in deadlocked talks can be found, telling the bloc’s leaders “let’s get it done”.

The row comes hours before the two sides must secure changes if they are to be put before MPs in a critical vote next week, with the prime minister facing a second humiliating defeat and the prospect of parliament stripping her executive of power over the Brexit process.

UK negotiators have been trying to secure a legal way of escaping the Irish backstop arrangement – which comes into play if the two sides fail to secure a new trade deal by the end of 2020 and which could lock Britain into a customs union indefinitely.

In an unexpected move, Mr Barnier tweeted that the UK would only be able to leave the backstop unilaterally, if it effectively left Northern Ireland inside the arrangement, which would ensure there is no hard border with the Republic – something Ms May has already said no to and which her DUP allies in government would certainly vote down in the commons.

After weeks of increasingly ill-tempered negotiations, Mr Barclay wrote back: “With a very real deadline looming, now is 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 offer by Mr Barnier for a unilateral exit for Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland effectively lets the UK revert to the original EU plan for the backstop – which would have put customs checks on the Irish sea between Northern Ireland and the mainland.

That plan was scrapped for the current UK-wide backstop after months of lobbying by the British side, but when it was taken back to MPs, they rejected that too – with Brexiteers worried that it would trap the UK inside a customs union with the EU.

“[The new offer is] basically going back to the old backstop,” one EU official said of the plan, which does not require the reopening of the withdrawal agreement.

Michel Barnier laid out the proposals in a series of tweets on Friday afternoon – an unusual move but one which came after Ms May’s speech which challenged the EU to give ground.

“The EU commits to give UK the option to exit the single customs territory unilaterally, while the other elements of the backstop must be maintained to avoid a hard border. UK will not be forced into a customs union against its will,” he said.

He added that the arbitration panel already included in the withdrawal agreement can, “under Article 178 of the withdrawal agreement, give the UK the right to a proportionate suspension of its obligations under the backstop, as a last resort, if EU breaches its best endeavours/good faith obligations to negotiate alternative solutions”.

He said the bloc would also “give legal force to all commitments from the January letter from the European Council president and European Commission president through joint interpretative statement”.

“The EU will continue working intensively over the coming days to ensure that the UK leaves the EU with an agreement,” he concluded.

In her speech in Grimsby on Friday, the prime minister turned her fire on European leaders demanding they make a move to get the Brexit negotiations moving again.

She said: “European leaders tell me they worry that time is running out, and that we only have one chance to get it right. My message to them is: now is the moment for us to act.

“We have worked hard together over two years on the deal. It is a comprehensive deal that provides for an orderly exit from the EU, and that sets a platform for an ambitious future relationship.

“It needs just one more push, to address the final specific concerns of our parliament. So let’s not hold back. Let’s do what is necessary for MPs to back the deal on Tuesday.”

On that day the House of Commons will again vote on Ms May’s Brexit deal – after rejecting it last time by a historic margin of defeat. If the agreement is rejected again the government has promised to give MPs votes on whether to rule out a no-deal Brexit, and whether to extend article 50. These votes are expected on Wednesday and Thursday of this week respectively.

Polling commissioned by The Irish Times and conducted by Ipsos MRBI shows Northern Irish votes overwhelmingly reject a hard Brexit, and that 67 per cent think the DUP is doing a bad job of representing Northern Ireland in Westminster.

69 per cent of Northern Irish people – including 57 of those with a protestant background, say they are dissatisfied with DUP leader Arlene Foster. Notably, more voters favour checks on goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland than do checks at the Irish border.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday morning that it should be Theresa May offering the UK concessions if she wanted changes to the withdrawal agreement. He said talks were really “a question of what they are willing to offer us” and that he withdrawal agreement as it stood was “already a compromise” that had taken a year and a half to negotiate.