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.

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

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.

But while Downing Street is banking on a change in Cox’s legal opinion persuading Brexiters to back the deal, 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.

On Tuesday, the French EU affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, reiterated the refusal of the 27 member states to renegotiate.

She instead warned that Brussels would not simply delay Brexit to avoid a no deal, urging the prime minister to think again about the future relationship so as to garner cross-party votes.

“We are waiting for Mrs May to come with some precise proposals because she said that she had some things to tell us”, Loiseau said. “Now time is pressing. We are about a month away from the UK’s exit, an exit which will take place on March 29 because she hasn’t given any signals that there will be a delay.”

The French minister added: “We are in favour of a delay either for some days for technical reasons [or] if it’s for political reasons there has to be a real advance on something that is supported by a majority in the British parliament which corresponds to our red lines, our negotiating directives. If we have to talk about a reformulation of our future relationship it’s entirely possible to do that. If it’s about reopening the withdrawal agreement we have all already said that this point is not negotiable”

Michael Roth, Germany’s minister for Europe, said the UK had not come forward with any new thinking in recent days.

He said: “There is no point in abstractly demanding changes or to make demands, which are completely unacceptable for us.

“There can be no limit to the backstop, there can’t be an automatic expiration of the backstop. Therefore we will continue to be open to dialogues, after all we want to find a sensible solution, we want to prevent a hard Brexit. It would be the worst, both for Great Britain as well as for the EU27. But right now I do not see the necessary willingness to budge on the part of the British and this doesn’t make things easier because time is running out.”

In an interview with Politico, Hunt nevertheless 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”.