EU rejects May's plea for time limit on Irish backstop
PM fails to get 'legal, political assurance' to save Brexit deal
European Union leaders rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's plea to put a time limit on the Irish backstop, in a blow to her hopes of reaching a Brexit deal at a Brussels summit on Thursday.
May had arrived at the European Council meeting hoping to win changes on the contentious backstop -- designed to stop a hard border with Ireland in the event of no free trade deal with the EU -- and bring back a deal she get could get through a divided parliament.
In another day of humiliation for May, her attempts to get "legal and political assurances" to prevent Britain being caught in the backstop indefinitely were opposed by Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain and Belgium.
Having survived a no confidence vote on Thursday which she secured by pledging to step down before the 2022 election, May had pledged to push hard for changes, but her personal presentation before the other 27 leaders before dinner proved hard to digest.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on the UK to be clear on what it wanted from the EU.
"Our UK friends need to say what they want, instead of asking us to say what we want and so we would like within a few weeks our UK friends to set out their expectations for us, because this debate is sometimes nebulous and imprecise and I would like clarifications," he said after the summit.
“We don’t want the UK to think there can be any form of renegotiation, that is crystal clear. We can add clarifications but no real changes. There will be no legally binding obligations imposed on the withdrawal treaty.”
The European Council's summit communique said the EU would use its "best endeavours to negotiate and conclude expeditiously a subsequent agreement that would replace the backstop, and would expect the same of the United Kingdom, so that the backstop would only be in place for as long as strictly necessary".
"If the backstop were nevertheless to be triggered, it would apply temporarily, unless and until it is superseded by a subsequent agreement that ensures that a hard border is avoided," said the EU leaders in the conclusions.
However, a draft proposal that the backstop "would only be in place for a short period” if it was ever triggered was left out of the summit conclusions as was a promise that the EU “stands ready to examine whether any further assurance can be provided”.
Earlier in the evening May had made her pitch to the other 27 EU leaders saying they needed to "change the perception that the backstop could be a trap from which the UK could not escape".
"Until we do, the deal — our deal — is at risk. It is in none of our interests to run the risk of accidental no deal with all the disruption that would bring. We must get this right. Let’s hold nothing in reserve. Let’s work together to get this deal over the line.”