Boris Johnson tells EU leaders that Brexit talks are off until Brussels bins the backstop
BORIS Johnson sent shockwaves around Europe yesterday as he told Angela Merkel that Brexit talks were off until Brussels bins the backstop.
The new PM told the German Chancellor and French President Emmanuel Macron he was ready to put all his energy into negotiations for a new deal for October 31.
But he told the power pair in phone calls there was no point in meeting until the European Commission accepted that its plan for the Irish border, in the agreement offered to Theresa May, has to go.
And he said Britain would in the meantime “fully prepare for the alternative” — No Deal.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “We are clear-eyed about what needs to happen if we are going to be able to secure a deal which Parliament can support.”
He added: “He wants to do a deal. He will be energetic in trying to seek that deal but the Withdrawal Agreement has been rejected three times by the House of Commons. It is not going to pass.
“That means reopening the Withdrawal Agreement and securing the abolition of the backstop.”
'ON A COLLISION COURSE'
The comments come a day after EU negotiator Michel Barnier branded the demand to bin the backstop as “unacceptable”.
Yesterday Irish leader Leo Varadkar said nationalists and liberal unionists in Northern Ireland may soon “come to question” being part of a UK where Home Secretary Priti Patel previously supported bringing back the death penalty.
He insisted: “We are not reopening the Withdrawal Agreement.”
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney accused Mr Johnson of putting Britain on a “collision course” with Ireland.
He said it appeared the new PM was making a “deliberate decision” to stoke tensions.
Boris is still expected to take up the offer of a visit to Mrs Merkel in Berlin in the coming weeks.
But yesterday’s blast marks a stark contrast in the approach to the EU negotiations by Mrs May.
He repeatedly said in the leadership contest the Withdrawal Agreement was “dead” because of the controversial backstop plan.
But Brexiteers insist Britain and Brussels should instead commit to exploring alternative arrangements, such as smart cameras and customs checks away from the frontier.
BORIS'S HARDLINE APPROACH
Tories lapped up the PM’s tactics yesterday, saying Mrs May’s cautious approach had left Britain as a “supplicant” to Brussels.
And he was mobbed by shoppers wanting to take selfies with him on a visit to Birmingham yesterday.
In contrast, it was drab bore meets the Fab Four — as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hardly raised a murmur posing in front of Beatles statues with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotherham.
But Remain Conservatives were left seething.
Margot James, ex-Digital Minister, said she could quit the Tory party altogether over its “massive shift to the right”.
Sources last night claimed the tough approach towards EU negotiations would only fuel speculation of an early election.
Tory and Labour MPs are convinced the new Government is taking a hardline approach to win back support from voters who switched to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
But Boris also “absolutely” ruled out calling a general election before the Brexit deadline day of October 31 as he took to the streets of Birmingham.
Allies close to him insisted the fresh Brexit tactics were merely designed to get a better deal from Brussels. One said: “You have to show them you are ready to walk away.”
Earlier yesterday, the first signs of a split in Tory ranks under Mr Johnson emerged as arch Eurosceptics said they feared he would “betray” them in Brexit negotiations.
Steve Baker, who snubbed a junior ministerial job on Thursday, said he was convinced Boris would try to bring back a tweaked version of Mrs May’s original deal to the Commons.
And the blast by the Tory was immediately echoed by fellow “Spartan” Mark Francois.
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He told The Sun: “We’ve not slogged through all this mud for the past three years just to vote for some other version of the Withdrawal Agreement.”
He insisted 28 arch Brexiteers who voted down Mrs May’s deal for a third time on March 29 would now only approve a Canada-style free trade deal that removes Britain from the Single Market and Customs Union completely.
And Eurosceptic veteran John Redwood last night said No Deal was ever more likely, adding: “I believe Boris. We are leaving the EU deal or no deal. And the EU has made clear it’s not going to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement.”
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