A final agreement on the terms of Britain’s EU withdrawal has been thrown into doubt, after Theresa May fiercely rejected a text drawn up by the European Commission, declaring: “No UK prime minister could ever agree to it”.
The Prime Minister told MPs that the paper – which proposes a “common regulatory area” between the EU and Northern Ireland – would “threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK” by creating a border down the Irish Sea.
With just three weeks to go until a Brussels summit at which the remaining 27 EU nations were expected to approve the draft text, Mrs May made clear that she wants a rewrite of the 120-page document.
And Brexit Secretary David Davis suggested that an alternative way of keeping the Irish border open can be expected to emerge from talks on the future EU/UK trade relationship, due to begin after the March 22 summit of the European Council.
Mrs May was applauded by the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Arlene Foster, who said that the EU’s proposals were “constitutionally unacceptable and would be economically catastrophic for Northern Ireland”.
But she came under fire from her predecessor as Conservative prime minister Sir John Major, who dramatically intervened in the Brexit debate with a warning that the Government’s negotiating position was “not credible”.
Answering questions in the Commons less than an hour after its publication, Mrs May told MPs: “The draft legal text the Commission have published would, if implemented, undermine the UK common market and threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea, and no UK prime minster could ever agree to it.
“I will be making it crystal clear to President Juncker and others that we will never do so.”
She said she stood by the deal struck in December, but left no doubt that she wants the withdrawal text rewritten, stating that UK negotiators would talk to Brussels about how the Joint Report “should be translated into legal form in the withdrawal agreement”.
In an apparent bid to calm Tory nerves, Mr Davis wrote to all Conservative MPs to insist there remains “a shared ambition for a quick agreement and … significant common ground” between the UK and EU.
London still hopes to secure agreement at the March 22 summit of the European Council on a transition period of around two years after the official date of Brexit in 2019, he said.
But Mr Barnier signalled frustration at the lack of progress in the negotiations, telling a Brussels press conference: “We must pick up the pace.”
There remain “significant divergences” over issues including the rights of EU citizens and the application of EU rules during transition.
He warned: “At this moment, as I speak to you, the transition is not a given.”
Meanwhile, the Government sought to break the deadlock with Brussels over citizens’ rights by declaring that those who arrive in the UK during the transition period will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain.
The offer falls short of Brussels’ demand for equal treatment with EU nationals resident in the UK before Brexit, who will be allowed to taken on “settled status”, granting them greater rights to bring in family members.