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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Following a meeting between Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May a Labour spokesperson said: "Jeremy made the case of our alternative plan". They claimed the pair had agreed to meet again and said the "tone was serious and engaged".
This is from Sky News' Faisal Islam. It doesn't make for great reading for the government.
Interesting point made in the European Parliament, courtesy of The Independent's Europe Correspondent, Jon Stone.
European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt hit out at the "lack of clarity and lack of stability" in the British position, with "teeny-tiny" majorities deciding different positions in the Commons.
"What started as a catfight inside the Conservative Party is today an existential problem for the whole of Britain," he said.
Mr Verhofstadt said he hoped Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn's meeting amounted to more than "eating biscuits and drinking tea" as a cross-party approach was needed to secure a stable UK position.
"It could be the solution for this problem if they start working together on a cross-party approach so that we know what the position of the UK is in the future, because we don't know it."
Jeremy Corbyn has said he is "suspicious" Theresa May is trying to "run down the clock" on Brexit.
The Labour leader said he held "serious" talks with the prime minister on Wednesday afternoon which were "exploratory on the issues" and he "set out the Labour case for a comprehensive customs union with the European Union in order to protect jobs in this country".
But, speaking to reporters in his parliamentary office after the meeting, he warned: "The whole process looks like it's running down the clock by saying, well, it's either the problems and the difficulties of no deal or support a deal that's already been rejected by the House of Commons.
"I'm suspicious that there is a programme of running down the clock here."
Mr Corbyn said he was "disappointed" some Labour MPs had voted in favour of the Brady amendment or abstained on Tuesday night.
"I'm very disappointed of those that chose to vote with the Conservatives last night on those issues."
Asked if he would take disciplinary action against MPs who rebelled, he said: "We will be having discussions with them."
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the prospect of a no-deal Brexit had increased because of the attitude of Brussels "fanatics" who refused to compromise.
He said Theresa May had now realised the mistake made in agreeing to the backstop, adding: "She signed up to something that no country - unless it had been defeated in war - would have signed up to."
There was now an "appreciation in Britain that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels have been talking down to and humiliating the prime minister of our nation, and we don't like it".
He added: "Many will say we are simply dealing with fanatics who are not prepared to be reasonable and make any sense of compromise."
Time is too short to find an alternative arrangement to the Irish backstop and Britain's divorce deal with the European Union will not be re-opened for negotiation, the EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said.
"We ourselves talked of so-called alternative arrangements which could prevent the return of a hard border. Only, 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 told France's RTL radio.
"We have neither the time, nor the technologies."
Here's the latest from our Europe correspondent Jon Stone in Brussels:
Irish premier Leo Varadkar and Theresa May have spoken by phone this afternoon to discuss the outcome of the House of Commons vote on Tuesday night.
In a statement, the Irish government said: "The Taoiseach set out once again the unchanged Irish and EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement and the backstop, noting that the latest developments had reinforced the need for a backstop which is legally robust and workable in practice.
"The prime minister indicated that further consultations are taking place in London. They agreed to stay in touch over the coming period."
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