Tory eurosceptics have said they feel “strung along” by Theresa May after she told the cabinet that she would not seek to ditch the controversial Irish border backstop from her Brexit deal.
The prime minister told her top team that negotiations with the EU on the so-called Malthouse compromise, which Brexiteers thought could replace the backstop, would not take place until after the UK leaves the bloc, a cabinet source told HuffPost.
The source said there was “positive language” at cabinet on the Malthouse compromise which suggested the plan, which relies on heavily technology to avoid a hard Irish border, is still being looked at as a viable way of ensuring the backstop never comes into force.
But “disappointed” Brexiteer Tory Andrea Jenkyns said she was concerned the PM would simply ditch it again if MPs vote through her withdrawal agreement, allowing the UK to leave the EU with a deal and talks to begin on a future trade relationship.
She told HuffPost UK: “I would not be surprised if we were promised that it would be looked at in the next stage to gain support but then be immediately dropped once the withdrawal agreement had gone through.
“The government needs to work on building up trust as many of us feel that we have been strung along.”
A Brexiteer source meanwhile said colleagues had been suspicious about how seriously the government was taking talks between Malthouse MPs and ministers as May’s most senior officials were rarely, if ever, in the room.
“There is a long-term lack of trust in Downing Street. It is a widely held thing, not just among Brexiteers.
“Did they really take this to the EU? What discussions did they have? Did they ever really take it seriously? Why did no-one from the prime minister’s office ever turn up to those meetings?
“It will further undermine trust.”
May’s comments to cabinet suggest she is narrowing down the options she will present to European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker in crunch talks to resolve the backstop issue on Wednesday.
The Malthouse compromise was one part of proposals being worked up by the PM, also including a time limit to the backstop or a unilateral exit mechanism for the UK.
Malthouse-backing MPs, which included both Remainers and Leavers, were invited in to Whitehall offices to discuss the plans with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and a team of civil servants, while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox worked on the other two proposals.
Cox’s work appears to have borne more results, as he is billed to give a major speech on the backstop later this week and has been travelling with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay for talks in Brussels.
Downing Street refused to comment on the status of the Malthouse compromise in a regular briefing for reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
Instead May’s official spokesman pointed to a Department for Exiting the European statement issued late on Monday after the Barclay-Cox talks, which said the EU had “engaged seriously” with the Malthouse proposals but “expressed concerns about their viability to resolve the backstop”.
The statement said the UK and EU had agreed to “keep exploring” the Malthouse plans to ensure the backstop, which would come into force from 2021 if no trade deal was agreed, would never need to be implemented.