Northern Ireland

Theresa May: Phase one Brexit deal "off the table" if exit agreement cannot be reached

Brexit Secretary David Davis in the House of Commons, London. Picture by Press Association
Brexit Secretary David Davis in the House of Commons, London. Picture by Press Association Brexit Secretary David Davis in the House of Commons, London. Picture by Press Association

THERESA May has said Britain's offer for its divorce bill with the EU will be off the table if the UK does not agree a future partnership with Brussels.

The British Prime Minister told the Commons yesterday that last week's deal which enabled both sides to move on to the next phase of Brexit talks is "good news" for both Leave and Remain voters.

Mrs May said the terms of Friday's phase one agreement - which is expected to be approved by the other 27 EU leaders later this week - would avoid a hard Irish border, protect the rights of UK and EU expat citizens and see the UK pay a "fair" divorce bill.

But she added that if the UK was not able to agree a withdrawal deal with the EU prior to its scheduled exit in March 2019, "this deal is off the table".

The Tory leader was speaking after Brexit secretary David Davis said Britain's commitment to maintaining a soft Irish border is "much more than legally enforceable".

He said the UK would seek to maintain a "frictionless, invisible" border between Northern Ireland and the Republic even if Friday's last-minute agreement collapses in the event of a "no deal" Brexit.

His comment on Sunday that the plans were a "statement of intent" was branded "bizarre" by the Irish government, which insisted an agreement that the UK will have "full alignment" with the EU on issues that impact on Northern Ireland was "binding".

But Mr Davis claimed his words had been "completely twisted".

He told LBC Radio: "What I actually said yesterday in terms was we want to protect the peace process, want to protect Ireland from the impact of Brexit for them, and I said this was a statement of intent which was much more than just legally enforceable.

"Of course it's legally enforceable under the withdrawal agreement but even if that didn't happen for some reason, if something went wrong, we would still be seeking to provide a frictionless invisible border with Ireland."

Mr Davis went on: "What we're saying is this bit of it, the bit about the full alignment argument on the issues which affect the peace process in the Belfast Agreement, we would look to that anyway because one of our absolute underpinning aims is to ensure that Ireland and particularly the Northern Ireland peace process is not harmed".

Asked why he said the soft Irish border deal was a statement of intent, Mr Davis replied: "Because it's more than legally enforceable.

"In the event that the withdrawal agreement doesn't happen then we would still be seeking to maintain an invisible border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, that was the point."

Meanwhile, Mr Davis said last Monday's botched attempt at getting an agreement with the European Union to move to Brexit trade negotiations had tested his ability to stay calm.

Theresa May's hopes of getting the green light for trade talks were torpedoed at the start of last week by the DUP over concerns that plans for the border could lead to a new frontier being drawn in the Irish Sea.

The Prime Minister was forced into a week of negotiations before finally getting a dramatic last-minute deal on Friday, paving the way for trade talks.

Mr Davis told LBC radio: "What's the requirement of my job? I don't have to be very clever, I don't have to know that much, I do just have to be calm.

"And that did test the calmness a bit, a little bit.

"But we had to pick another day and we looked at Wednesday but Wednesday wasn't long enough for the DUP to sort themselves out so we made it Thursday, Friday morning."