Brexit: EU leaders reject efforts to renegotiate Irish backstop

European leaders have rejected UK overtures to reopen the withdrawal agreement and go back on the Irish backstop.

Theresa May leaves Downing St. Picture: Getty Images.

European leaders have given the cold shoulder to British Prime Minister Theresa May, rejecting overtures to reopen the withdrawal agreement amid escalating risk of a no-deal Brexit that is forcing one of Britain’s biggest banks to move €190bn of assets to Dublin.

In a message to Mrs May from the European Parliament, EC President Jean Claude Juncker said the EU would neither renegotiate the agreement nor go back on the contentious backstop to prevent a hard border in Ireland.

“In less than 60 days the UK is due to leave the EU, this is a bad decision,” Mr Juncker told MEPs in Brussels. “Even as the commission has defended interests of the EU, the spirit of respect and friendship has accompanied us at every step of these negotiations.

“The withdrawal agreement is a result of that. The withdrawal agreement remains the best and only deal possible: we said so in November; we said so in December; we said so after the first meaningful vote in January.

“The debates yesterday do not change that, the withdrawal agreement will not be renegotiated.”

EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, left, stands next to European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as he addresses MEPS in Brussels. Picture AP.

The tone of the message indicates that leaders from the EU 27 member states believe that if they stand firm behind the Irish backstop, the UK parliament will end up proposing a cross-party plan including a customs union, rather than a no-deal.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier criticised Mrs May for yesterday backing the Brady amendment in Westminster which called for “alternative arrangements’’ to the backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

“She took distance from the agreement she had herself negotiated and on which we had achieved an agreement,” Mr Barnier said of Mrs May, before then attacking former Brexit ministers David Davis and Dominic Raab, who have been vocal critics of the Brexit deal after resigning their roles.

“When I hear some people who were even part and parcel of the negotiations saying what they’re saying it’s tough, I find it hard to accept this blame game they’re trying to play against us,” he said.

He added: ”Voting against a no deal does not rule out the risk of no deal. This Agreement remains the best and only means to ensure an orderly withdrawal. This agreement will not be renegotiated”.

Mr Davis tweeted that the vote showed support for a complete revision of the backstop and a good free trade agreement and said it was important to find a solution politically acceptable to the Irish government. He added: “The EU is likely to hold the line for a while. It’s time for parliament, too, to hold its nerve’’.

Overnight the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn met with Mrs May for 45 minutes to outline the Labour plan for a permanent customs union with the EU.

Meanwhile Barclays Bank has received permission from the High Court to implement a substantial Brexit plan to relocate part of its business to Dublin because it cannot wait any longer for clarity on the issue.

The assets being moved, which represent around 15 per cent of the bank’s total assets, are from the bank’s branches across the EU which are brought into London.

High court judge Mr Justice Snowden said: “Due to the continuing uncertainty over whether there might be a no-deal Brexit, the Barclays group has determined that it cannot wait any longer to implement the scheme”.

The bank needs to relocate assets to Dublin so it can continue to conduct investment activities. Under a no-deal Brexit the bank fears it will lose passporting rights to conduct such business unless it has an EU base.