No 10 plans to run down clock in Brexit face-off
The UK will hold back from giving Brussels a written proposal for alternatives until as late as October, as the two sides try to out-manoeuvre each other in the final stages of Brexit talks.
The European Union has repeatedly called for operable, legal text before it will consider reopening the Withdrawal Agreement and removing the Irish backstop. Without the backstop’s removal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there will be no deal.
But City PM understands that Number 10 will not present its proposals in a formal, written, manner until the eleventh hour, after having successive efforts “trashed” almost immediately.
It is now thought the earliest a proposal will be put forward is after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where Johnson will meet world leaders, which will run from 24-30 September.
Any earlier would “not be the smart way to go about getting a deal”, said a senior government source.
But the source suggested the conversations Johnson and his team were having with their EU counterparts was “broadly” what would appear in any written form.
Johnson had a tumultuous visit to Luxembourg yesterday, with the first half of the trip yielding a positive result.
After a working lunch with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the pair agreed that “political level” talks between the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay would resume, following two months’ absence.
Talks at a lower level will be conducted on a daily basis, intensifying from current levels.
Following the “constructive” meeting, Downing Street spokesperson said: “The leaders agreed that the discussions needed to intensify and that meetings would soon take place on a daily basis.”
During the lunch Juncker had reminded Johnson it was the UK’s “responsibility” to come up with legally operable alternatives to the backstop.
“Such proposals have not yet been made,” it added.
Johnson later met with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, but this descended into a row after Bettel’s team refused to relocate the planned press conference, despite the presence of a small but vocal crowd.
It is understood that Downing Street asked for the press conference to be conducted indoors, after it became clear the loud crowd could become disruptive, however this was rejected by Luxembourg’s team.
Speaking next to an empty podium Bettel initially appeared willing to thank Johnson, with whom he had enjoyed a “longer than planned” meeting.
But Bettel grew increasingly heated as he attacked the “lies” of the Vote Leave referendum campaign and the inadequacies of the Remain campaign, while the crowd cheered loudly throughout.
“These are homemade problems and we now have all to deal with them,” he said. “I won’t accept [responsibility] for the mess we are in for the moment.”
Speaking subsequently, in a quieter location, a rattled-looking Johnson explained that he would have been “drowned out by the noise” of the protesters.
He insisted: “We have just the right amount of time to do a deal… A lot of work is going on here.
“This is a difficult moment. We are very keen to do it, but I don’t want people to think it’s in the bag. It’s not necessarily in the bag.”
Main image: Getty