Ireland rejects bilateral Brexit border proposal
Liam Fox floats ‘alternative mechanism’ to backstop
The UK has floated the idea of a bilateral deal with Ireland as part of its Brexit plan B but the Irish government immediately rejected it.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, said on Sunday that the UK was looking for “an alternative mechanism” to reassure Dublin that there would be no hard border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.
The EU-UK withdrawal agreement was voted down by the UK parliament last week, partly because of Eurosceptics’ concerns about the so-called backstop, which would keep Northern Ireland in a customs union with the EU in order to avoid border checks.
The Irish foreign ministry said on Sunday there had not been “any official request for a bilateral treaty” to replace the backstop. A government spokesman insisted that such ideas would not be entertained.
“Ireland negotiates as part of the group of 27 European nations,” he said.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy premier, stressed in a tweet on Saturday the Irish government’s “absolute” commitment to the entire withdrawal agreement, “including the backstop to ensure, no matter what, an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland” is kept open.
A similar proposal to the one suggested by Mr Fox was previously backed by the former UK Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, but did not come to fruition. Leo Varadkar, Irish prime minister, and Philip Hammond, UK chancellor, are scheduled to appear together on a panel this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Mrs May will present a revised Brexit plan to parliament on Monday. Tory and Opposition MPs have expressed dismay at the prime minister’s failure to move her red lines so far, although their precise demands are contradictory.
Many Eurosceptics want Mrs May to limit the backstop and to rule out delaying the UK’s March 29 departure date from the EU. Europhiles want her to rule out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit and to keep the UK in a customs union with the EU.
Mrs May’s statement to parliament on Monday is likely to focus on the process by which she expects to develop a new strategy rather than substantive changes to her existing deal.
Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary on Sunday accepted that any Brexit deal “probably does require a backstop”.
He also suggested that Labour’s demand of a general election was no longer “realistic”, because Tory MPs would not vote for it. Sir Keir told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that “the options are now in effect down to two”: a close economic relationship with the EU, and a second referendum.
His comments seem designed to increase pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose preference remains to push for a general election, even though Labour failed this week to pass a no-confidence vote in the government — the necessary first step.
Labour’s official policy, agreed at last year’s party conference, is to push for all options remaining on the table, including a second referendum, if the party “cannot get a general election.” Despite the failure of last week’s confidence vote, speculation about a general election has risen in Westminster, with former Tory leader William Hague saying the media has under-reported the prospect.
David Lammy, a Labour backbencher backing for a second referendum, warned that Labour could split because some pro-EU MPs are “so frustrated [with Mr Corbyn that they might] go off and form another party”.
“The danger is, just like 1983, a new party built around a relationship with Europe keeps the Labour party out of power for a generation,” he told Sky News, referring to the period after Labour breakaways founded the centrist Social Democratic party.