Brexit: EU negotiator and Council chief tell Theresa May deal is not open for renegotiation
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Your support makes all the difference.The EU's chief Brexit negotiator told Theresa May time was too short to find an alternative to the Irish border arrangement agreed in their Brexit deal and said the divorce deal was not open for renegotiation.
Michel Barnier told France's RTL radio the two-year divorce negotiations had looked for an alternative to the "Irish backstop", designed to ensure the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland remains free of border posts.
"No one, on either side, was able to say what arrangement would be needed to ensure controls on goods, animals and merchandise without having a border," Mr Barnier said. "We have neither the time, nor the technologies."
After a relatively successful night for Ms May during which the government defeated a number of attempts by MPs to secure control of the Brexit process, she will now have the Herculean task of convincing EU leaders to reopen talks.
MPs approved an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady by 317 votes to 301 to accept Ms May’s Brexit deal as long as an alternative to the backstop could be found.
But the response from Europe was united and blunt.
"The Withdrawal Agreement is not open for renegotiation," European Council president Donald Tusk tweeted in what he said was a message to Ms May.
"Yesterday, we found out what the UK doesn't want. But we still don't know what the UK does want."
Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour MPs who defied the whip in yesterday’s votes “will be dealt with”, as he holds talks with Ms May on how the Brexit negotiations should move forward.
Mr Corbyn met with the prime minister to discuss how a conensus could be reached on the Brexit negotiations only weeks after he had rejected Ms May’s initial invitiation.
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There has been "no change" in the territorial application of the Domestic Abuse Bill compared with the proposals in the government's consultation, Home Office minister Victoria Atkins has said.
Ms Atkins told MPs in the Commons that in line with existing criminal law the provisions of the draft Bill "expand to England and Wales only".
Her comments came as Labour's Stella Creasy accused the government of drafting this Bill "not with victims of domestic violence in mind but their partners in the coalition" - the DUP.
Asking an urgent question, she said: "This Bill shows the human consequences for women across the UK of the confidence-and-supply agreement."
Ireland's deputy premier Simon Coveney has delivered a blow to the PM by saying there are no "alternative arrangements" to replace the backstop. This comes at odds to the Brady amendment backed by MPs last night.
Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr Coveney said: "There are currently no alternative arrangements, which anybody has put forward, which achieve what both sides are determined to achieve - to avoid a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks or controls, and protect the all-island economy, North-South co-operation and the Good Friday Agreement.
"Believe me, this has been explored endlessly in the negotiations over the last two years.
"We have seen no alternative arrangements that meet this essential threshold. We need a backstop or insurance mechanism based on legal certainty, and not just wishful thinking."
He added: "We are, quite simply, running out of road. As Donald Tusk was quick to spell out last night within minutes of the vote, and as had been indicated to the British Government numerous times prior to the vote, the Withdrawal Agreement, including the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, is not open for re-negotiation.
'Which options are being explored?' Today at PMQs Jeremy Corbyn asked what Theresa May's alternative arrangements for the backstop were
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Irish premier Leo Varadkar said there are no plans to hold an emergency EU summit following the decision by the House of Commons to give Theresa May the go-ahead to seek changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.
Mr Varadkar told the Dail parliament that the EU is not offering a renegotiation of the existing Brexit deal.
The European Union, including Ireland, stands by the Withdrawal Agreement including the protocol and backstop relating to Ireland.
A renegotiation is not on the table. There's no plans to organise an emergency summit to discuss any changes to the guidelines. Nor is there any pressure to hold one."
He also said that the message from the EU was abundantly clear: "The Withdrawal Agreement is not up for renegotiation and is not going to be reopened."
↵Jeremy Corbyn is set to meet with Theresa May at 3pm today.
The meeting will take place at the House of Commons and not at Downing Street. Here is some rationale as to why that might be the case:
Fourteen backbench MPs defied the Labour whip yesterday. 11 MPs abstained, 8 of whom sit on the party's front bench.
Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman declined to reveal what, if any, sanctions will be taken against Labour rebels.
"It will be dealt with in the next few days in the usual way. Each case is treated on its own merits," he said.
MPs trying to delay Britain's exit from the European Union often use "kindergarten language" and "misunderstand" how negotiations work, a Labour Brexiteer has claimed.
Graham Stringer criticised colleagues who voted to extend Article 50 for referring to the EU as "friends".
He told a meeting in Westminster of Eurosceptic think tank The Bruges Group that those who supported delaying Brexit "misunderstand the nature of the European Union".
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