Boris Johnson’s
Brexit “compromise” faces rejection in
Brussels after a key European Parliament group voiced “grave concerns”.
MEPs will not approve the the prime minister’s proposals “in their current form”, the parliament’s Brexit Steering Group (BSG) said on Thursday.
European Council President Donald Tusk, meanwhile, said he had told Johnson in a phonecall he was “unconvinced” and would “stand fully behind Ireland”, whose PM Leo Varadkar has warned the plans “do not fully meet agreed objectives”.
Johnson today urged MPs to get behind his new deal. It would see Northern
Ireland stay in the European single market for goods but leave the customs union.
The government said any new customs checks will be carried out at trade premises and there would be “no new infrastructure” at the border on the
UK side.
The DUP has backed the plan, and some
Labour MPs representing Leave constituencies indicated they could get behind it.
But the UK needs the backing of European Council ministers and the European Parliament, and the BSG has poured cold water on hopes of a deal.
A statement said: “The BSG does not find these last-minute proposals of the UK Government of October 2, in their current form, represent a basis for an agreement to which the European Parliament could give consent.
“The proposals do not address the real issues that need to be resolved if the backstop were to be removed, namely the all-island
economy, the full respect of the Good Friday Agreement and the integrity of the single market.
“While we remain open to workable, legally operable and serious solutions, the UK’s proposals fall short and represent a significant movement away from joint commitments and objectives.”
It added: “In summary, the BSG has grave concerns about the UK proposal, as tabled. Safeguarding peace and stability on the island of Ireland, protection of citizens and EU’s legal order has to be the main focus of any deal.
“The UK proposals do not match even remotely what was agreed as a sufficient compromise in the backstop.”Today I had two phone calls on #Brexit, first with
Dublin then with London.My message to Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar: We stand fully behind Ireland.My message to PM @BorisJohnson: We remain open but still unconvinced.— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) October 3, 2019Checks must be sanctioned by the
Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont, which is currently not sitting due to deadlock between the DUP and Sinn Fein, the UK plan says.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has also been clear that his government does not view the plan as a basis for a deal, saying the operation of two different custom zones on the island would create a “real difficulty”.
He said there were five ways to avoid a hard border – the reunification of Ireland; the
Irish Republic re-joining the UK; the UK remaining in the single market and customs union; the border backstop mechanism; or the UK reversing the Brexit decision.
On the prospect of the UK staying in the EU, the Taoiseach said: “All the polls since Prime Minister Johnson became prime minister suggest that’s what the
British people actually want, but their political system isn’t able to give them that choice.”He added: “Our objective is very clear – we don’t want to see any customs posts between north and south, nor do we want to see any
tariffs or restrictions on trade between north and south.
“They were all abolished in the 1990s, and we don’t want to go back to that. The majority of the people in the north don’t and the majority of the people in the Republic of Ireland don’t.
“But if we are going to be in two different customs unions, I think that’s going to create a real difficulty that’s going to be very hard to reconcile.”
Varadkar added that Johnson’s pledge to install no new infrastructure contradicted the text of the UK plan, which indicated checks could be carried out at unspecified designated locations.
“We need to explore in much more detail the customs proposals that are being put forward, as it’s very much the view of the Irish government and the people of Ireland, north and south, that there shouldn’t be customs checkpoints or tariffs between north and south,” he said.
Northern Ireland’s chief constable, meanwhile, has told Johnson that it would not be possible to
police the Irish border’s more than 300 crossing points with his current number of police officers.
Simon Byrne said his 30-minute conversation with the prime minister happened by video call on Friday.
“We were face to face on a video call for over half an hour,” he said.
“It was a very open conversation trying to tell him we saw that it was nigh on impossible to try and police over 300 crossings with the amount of police officers we had.
“It was a candid conversation, he was responsive to what we said and at the end of the day, how it landed and what he thought… you’re going to have to ask him.”Related...
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