The British government and the DUP have firmly rejected a draft treaty for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, with Theresa May saying “no UK prime minister could agree” to the proposals published in Brussels.
The dismissal by London of the European Commission draft suggests that negotiations on Brexit over the next three weeks, ahead of a March European summit, are likely to be fraught.
A failure to come to an agreement would threaten the UK’s post-2019 “transition phase” and bring the prospect of a hard Brexit – and a hard border in Ireland – closer.
Despite Ms May’s rejection of the proposals, there were signs that London remains anxious to keep the negotiations on track to agree a deal on the transition phase. British government spokespeople continued to insist that Ms May stands by a December agreement between the EU and UK – on which Wednesday's draft treaty was based – and by the Belfast Agreement.
However, DUP MPs and Brexiteers in Ms May’s party condemned the EU text, with the prominent Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg warning that Ireland would be the biggest loser in a no-deal scenario.
Guarantees
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney played down the idea of customs checks between Britain and Northern Ireland. He said that guarantees in the December deal from Britain that there would be no divergence between the North and the rest of the UK were an internal matter for Ms May’s government.
“We are not hardening our position, we are simply holding our position,” Mr Coveney said.
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said “there will be people, hardline Brexiteers, and some politicians in Northern Ireland, who will say ‘No’, who will be angry at what they see today. But just saying ‘No’ and just being angry isn’t enough,” he said, adding that it was “incumbent” on these people to come up with alternative solutions.
The Irish Times understands that the Department of Foreign Affairs has received individual contingency plans from all government departments for a hard Brexit, including plans for emergency legislation and new facilities for increased checks at airports and ports, in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal.
The commission’s document was issued Wednesday morning in Brussels, by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. The 128-page draft has yet to be approved by member states and will then be negotiated with the UK.
