A big day for May in Brussels
Theresa May heads for Brussels today for a summit with EU leaders, in which she hopes to make progress on the issue of the Irish backstop, after negotiations came to a roadblock over the weekend.
A Downing Street spokesperson said on Tuesday that the PM had won the backing of her cabinet on her plans to “maintain the integrity of the union”, after lengthy talks in which she called for party unity in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
The Irish backstop issue has derailed the progress of negotiations, with UK and EU negotiators unable to reach an agreement thus far. The EU’s requested ‘backstop to the backstop’, which would keep Northern Ireland in an effective customs union if no trade deal is reached by 2020, has been rejected by Theresa May, as it would “threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom”.
The prime minister will address the 27 EU leaders in Brussels, before they sit down to a dinner from which she is excluded. At this point, May hopes, the heads of state will decide the UK’s proposals are reasonable, and negotiations can move forward.
Donald Tusk: May must find a ‘creative solution’
On Tuesday, Donald Tusk told reporters in Brussels that it was down to May to come up with a “creative solution” in order for “a breakthrough to take place.”
“The report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, as well as yesterday’s debate in the House of Commons, give me no grounds for optimism before tomorrow’s European council on Brexit”, Tusk told reporters. “And as I see it, the only source of hope for a deal – for now – is the goodwill and determination on both sides.
“However, for a breakthrough to take place, besides goodwill, we need new facts. Tomorrow, I am going to ask Prime minister May whether she has concrete proposals on how to break the impasse. Only such proposals can determine if a breakthrough is possible … I hope tomorrow Prime minister May will present something creative enough to solve this impasse.”
Corbyn faces fresh claims he’s a Leaver
Jeremy Corbyn is facing fresh claims he supported the Brexit Leave campaign, as makers of a podcast claim he congratulated a Leave campaigner saying ‘good on you, keep up the good work’.
According to a podcast, made for the group UK in a Changing Europe, the Labour leader made the comments during the EU referendum, where he approached someone from his own party who was in support of the Leave campaign.
In the podcast, Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave, say he was told about the comments by the person Corbyn made them to: “I understand that during the referendum, he came up to somebody from the Labour Leave campaign and basically said, ‘good on you, keep up the good work’.” When asked if the person approached was Kate Hoey, Elliot replies “I’m not going to name names.” The podcast is due to be released on Wednesday.
Hammond’s budget aims to reassure worried backbenchers
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will aim to appease Tory backbenchers who are worried about the impact of Universal Credit and the prime minister’s pledge to ‘end austerity’.
Treasury sources say that Hammond’s new announcements in October’s budget would be “dressed up as a significant intervention”, whereas in reality they could in fact be “a smokescreen” to satisfy MPs worried about Brexit.
The sources also claim Hammond is worried the prime minister’s pledge at the party conference to ‘end austerity’ will be taken too literally, and will announce giveaways in order to match expectations from MPs and the public.
The news comes not long after the Chancellor told ministers Britain will still face a hefty Brexit divorce bill if it fails to secure a trade deal with the EU. According to the Telegraph, Hammond told Cabinet colleagues that the UK would still be obliged to pay the majority of the overall £39bn bill without an agreement on trade.
