Brexit: Labour rift proves it cannot be relied on, Hunt tells EU

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/19/brexit-labour-jeremy-hunt-eu

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Jeremy Hunt has seized on Labour’s split, claiming to European foreign ministers it proved that only concessions to win round Conservative rightwingers will get the Brexit deal through the Commons.

During a frenetic day of lobbying in Brussels, the foreign secretary privately counselled his EU counterparts that the opposition could not be relied upon, even if the government pivoted to backing a customs union.

The peeling away of seven MPs from the Labour party was said by Hunt on Monday to illustrate that the Brexit deal would only be saved by addressing Tory and DUP concerns about the “indefinite” nature of the Irish backstop, which could keep the UK in a customs union to avoid a hard Irish border.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who will hold his own talks in Brussels on Thursday, has offered his support for the Brexit deal if Downing Street backs a permanent customs union, an offer rejected by the prime minister.

Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and the attorney-general, Geoffrey Cox, are expected to return to Brussels on Wednesday, after two hours of talks over the backstop with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Monday.

It is understood that Cox laid out what he would need to revise his legal opinion. The two sides are exploring the possible legal means to reconcile the gap between the Irish protocol’s description of the backstop as “temporary” and its “indefinite” legal effect.

Downing Street is banking on a change in Cox’s legal opinion persuading Brexiters to back the deal. But there appears to be little hope of the withdrawal agreement itself being reopened as promised by the prime minister in January in response to the historic defeat of her deal with the EU by 230 votes.

In an interview with Politico, Hunt said he expected a significant breakthrough in the next few days, insisting it would be “definitely more than a clarification” while falling short of a rewriting of the withdrawal agreement.

The prime minister has until now been demanding a time limit on the backstop, a unilateral exit mechanism or its replacement with alternative arrangements.

The difference between Theresa May’s pledges to the DUP and the Brexiter wing of her party, and the reality of what the EU might be able to offer, has left senior EU figures increasingly concerned about a looming no deal Brexit.

Hunt, who met seven EU foreign ministers on Monday and the prime minister of Flanders, said a swift resolution was necessary “for the sake of sanity of the population of Britain and indeed of Europe”, adding that the end was in sight. The Commons is set to hear from the prime minister on the progress of her negotiations next Wednesday.

But the foreign secretary offered a sombre analysis of what he would regard as a success. “Success will be if in 10 years’ time people who voted against Brexit, people in that 48%, are able to say, ‘You know what, it hasn’t been as bad as I feared and the UK is flourishing’”, Hunt said.

“We have to show them the Brexit that we’re going to deliver, delivers on the letter and spirit of the referendum, but is not the Brexit of their worst nightmares. It’s not a Brexit where we pull up the drawbridge, where thousands of jobs are lost, and turn ourselves from Great Britain into Little Britain”.