UK risks accidental no deal after ‘groundhog day’ amendments

The UK risks crashing out of the EU without deal “by accident” because Westminster can’t decide what it wants, EU negotiator warns.

A Union flag flies near the Elizabeth Tower, or Big Ben. Picture: AFP.

Britain risks crashing out of the European Union without a Brexit deal “by accident” because Westminster cannot decide what it wants, a senior EU negotiator has warned.

In some of her toughest remarks to date, Sabine Weyand, deputy to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, criticised Theresa May’s handling of divorce talks and criticised proposed amendments as “groundhog day.”.

“There is a very real risk of crash out. Not by design but by accident,” Ms Weyand told an expert audience invited by the European Policy Centre think tank.

Ms Weyand complained that Mrs May had kept her own cabinet and MPs in the dark during 18 months of intense negotiations.

Theresa May has been criticised for keeping her MPs in the dark over Brexit negotiations. Picture: AFP.

As a result, she argued, many British MPs were surprised by the content of the withdrawal deal Mrs May signed with EU leaders in November, so rejected it.

Mrs May is now seeking to amend the accord and a parallel political declaration on future EU-British relations in the hope of belatedly winning domestic support.

But the prospect of Brexit Day, March 29, coming round without an agreement is becoming ever more likely.

“The crash out is the only scenario that does not require anyone to take any action or any decisions, and that is why the risk of a crash out is so high,” Ms Weyand said.

On Tuesday night local time (Wednesday morning AEDT), British MPs will vote on a raft of amendments that could end up forcing Mrs May to either seek a delay in the Brexit date or a revising withdrawal agreement.

But Ms Weyand warned that negotiations are over, and that this would not have been a surprise if May had kept her sceptical cabinet up to date on the state of talks.

“There are now ideas floating around again, and it does feel like Groundhog Day, about a time limit to the backstop or a unilateral exit clause,” she said.

To laughter from a Brussels audience she added: “In fact much of the conversation is uninhibited by any knowledge of what is actually in the withdrawal agreement.”

Mrs May is expected to return to Brussels this week to ask that the contentious Irish backstop, meant to guarantee no return of a border in Ireland, be stripped from the deal.

Ms Weyand said this had been rejected by all 27 EU leaders: “This negotiation is in London. There’s no negotiation between the EU and the UK. That negotiation is finished. We are not going to reopen the withdrawal agreement.”

Ms Weyand praised Mrs May for accepting “ownership” of the deal, but warned she had lost her cabinet and party’s support: “You cannot lead a negotiation like that in secrecy,” she said.

“On the UK side, the fact this was handled within a very small circle and there was no information about all the things that were tried in the negotiations, is now a big handicap.”