Brexit news: May hints at weakening of stance on Irish backstop – jeopardising Tory support for her deal

No 10 refuses to say UK still fighting for 'time limit', threatening prime minister's ability to win second 'meaningful vote' in just 8 days’ time

Theresa May has refused to say the UK is still fighting for a “time limit” to the Irish backstop, in fresh evidence that the Brexit talks are in trouble.

The prime minister appeared to water down her demands from the EU, threatening her ability to win over Conservative MPs in the second “meaningful vote” earmarked for just eight days’ time.

Downing Street declined to repeat the words “time limit” – or “unilateral exit clause” – when asked about a report that efforts in Brussels are now focused on a much weaker “arbitration mechanism” to escape the backstop.

A time limit, or exit mechanism, were the two options Ms May set out last month, when she told MPs: “We believe it is reasonable to ask for legally binding changes to this effect.”

But, asked if those two options remained the government’s demands, her spokesperson said only: “The attorney general continues to pursue legally binding changes to the backstop that are necessary to ensure that the EU cannot hold the UK in it indefinitely.

“We are now at a particularly critical stage in these negotiations and the AG’s work is focused on securing legally binding changes to the backstop.”

The spokesperson insisted the UK was “definitely making progress” in the latest talks, which began after Ms May’s record 230-vote defeat on her deal seven weeks ago, but offered no concrete examples.

Asked if an “arbitration mechanism” could now be the government’s aim, he said he was “not getting into specifics”.

Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, and Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, will be in Brussels on Tuesday, but there was “nothing in the diary” for the prime minister to take part in the negotiations.

On Friday, Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, warned EU ambassadors there had been no progress in securing changes to rescue the withdrawal agreement.

The EU has repeatedly insisted the backstop would not be the insurance policy needed to ensure no new hard border in Ireland if it was time-limited, or if the UK could bring it to an end unilaterally.

However, Mr Cox himself dismissed a claim made in the Daily Telegraph that he had “abandoned” attempts to secure a time limit or one-way exit mechanism from the backstop.

He tweeted: “The DT reporting of the last 24 hours consists of misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts.

“Some of it is accurate, much more of it isn’t and what is not is far more significant than what is. Complex and detailed negotiations cannot be conducted in public.”

Ms May is pinning her hopes of winning next week’s vote on Mr Cox changing his legal advice, in January, that the UK is in danger of being trapped in the backstop indefinitely.

However, that will be far more difficult if the UK is only able to appeal to an arbitrator that the backstop is no longer needed, possibly under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

If the meaningful vote is lost on Tuesday, MPs will have the opportunity to veto a no-deal Brexit and to seek an extension to Article 50 – delaying the UK’s departure from the EU beyond 29 March.