LONDON — Boris Johnsons Brexit plan now faces two key tests: Does Brussels back it and will MPs vote for it?
Early signs from Westminster look positive, with MPs from a number of factions opposed to former Prime Minister Theresa Mays deal indicating they might be able to support the new proposals. Reaction in Brussels, on the other hand, is much cooler.
Johnson on Thursday told the House of Commons the EU must show a “corresponding willingness” to reach a Brexit deal or take responsibility.
The prime minister reiterated a no-deal Brexit would be a “failure of statecraft,” the day after he revealed his pitch to Brussels for a new Brexit deal.
“These constructive and reasonable proposals show our seriousness of purpose. They do not deliver everything we should have wished but they do represent a compromise,” he said.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Johnsons proposals would “lead to an even worse deal” than the one agreed between Brussels and Theresa May.
“But to remain a prisoner of the existing positions is to become a cause of deadlock rather than breakthrough. So we have made a genuine attempt to bridge the chasm to reconcile the apparently unreconcilable and to go the extra mile as time runs short.”
He repeated his previous warnings that unless a deal is reached the U.K. will leave the European Union at the end of the month.
“If our European neighbors choose not to show a corresponding willingness to reach a deal then we shall have to leave on October 31 without an agreement and we are ready to do so. But that outcome would be a failure of statecraft for which all parties would be held responsible,” he said.
His plan involves creating a customs border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which would be managed by as yet unclear systems away from the border, and a regulatory border down the Irish Sea, all underpinned by consent from the Northern Ireland Assembly.
During a protest in September, in front of British Houses of Parliament in London in September, EU flags of anti-Brexit activists fly as pro-Brexit activists stand with their placards | Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images
Early indications are that the plans have not been well-received by the EU27, though they have not been rejected outright. In a statement, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker welcomed the “positive advances” but cautioned “there are still some problematic points that will need further work in the coming days.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in a statement after his own call with Johnson Wednesday evening that “the proposals do not fully meet the agreed objectives of the backstop.”
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Johnsons proposals would “lead to an even worse deal” than the one agreed between Brussels and Theresa May.
“Deal or no deal, this governments agenda is clear: They want a Trump Deal Brexit,” Corbyn told the Commons. “A Trump Deal Brexit that would crash our economy and rip away the staRead More – Source
