THE European Parliament's Brexit representative has said Theresa May told the EU today that there will be a backstop.
Guy Verhofstadt repeated the European Union's view that the backstop is an essential aspect of the Withdrawal Agreement previously agreed with the UK, that was subsequently rejected in a House of Commons vote.
Mr Verhofstadt said that during talks earlier today in Brussels, Mrs May "assured us that there will be a backstop".
He added: "There is no question to remove the backstop because that is absolutely necessary for securing and safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement, safeguarding the internal market and safeguarding also the peace process."
Any problems with the backstop should be solved in the Political Declaration agreed by the EU27 and the UK to help win over Brexiteers opposed to the backstop, he said.
Following today's meeting in Brussels, Theresa May said she raised with Donald Tusk "the language that he used yesterday, which was not helpful and caused widespread dismay in the United Kingdom".
Mr Tusk spoke yesterday of a "special place in hell" for "those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely".
Theresa May said: "I've had a good series of meetings today. We've had robust discussions but they've been constructive.
"What I've set out is our clear position that we must secure legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement to deal with the concerns that parliament has over the backstop, and that changes to the backstop - together with the other work we're doing on workers' rights and other issues - will deliver a stable majority in parliament
"That's what I will continue to push for. It's not going to be easy but crucially President Juncker and I have agreed that talks will now start to find a way through this, to find a way to get this over the line and to deliver on the concerns that parliament has, so we get a majority in parliament."
The British prime minister said: "I am clear that I am going to deliver Brexit. I am going to deliver it on time.
"That is what I am going to do for the British public, I will be negotiating hard in the coming days to do just that."
Theresa May said she had told Donald Tusk that they should be working together to reach an agreement on Brexit.
"The point I made to him is that we should both be working to ensure we can deliver a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union in future and that is what he should be focusing on," she said.
Mr Verhofstadt welcomed the letter from Jeremy Corbyn to Theresa May setting out the Labour Party's Brexit demands, saying "cross-party co-operation is the way forward".
He hit out at Brexiteers who support the "disaster" of a no-deal outcome.
"It is a disaster on both sides of the Channel and it is, in fact, irresponsible from some politicians in Britain to go for such a no deal and to prefer such a no deal," he said.
After today's talks with Theresa May, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said: "We are open to being more ambitious on our future relations, including looking at the Irish situation again if the UK's red lines change."
