May given ‘last chance’ to convince EU leaders

European Leaders plan to let Theresa May sell her Brexit blueprint directly to member states.

Theresa May exits 10 Downing Street on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

European leaders plan to let British Prime Minister Theresa May sell her Brexit blueprint directly to member states in an effort to kickstart stalled talks on Britain’s departure.

A meeting in Salzburg in ­September is being lined up as the venue where the Prime Minister can hold direct talks to avert a no-deal Brexit.

The proposal emerged after the intervention of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is concerned at the apparent drift in the talks. A government source said yesterday that it could be “Britain’s last chance” to sell a compromise that would avoid a hard Brexit.

New Brexit secretary Dominic Raab was due to meet European Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier last night for a second round of talks. However, both sides are said to be increasingly pessimistic at the lack of progress because the northern autumn is the deadline to agree a draft withdrawal treaty that includes a “backstop” to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said yesterday that he was alarmed at the open discussion both in Brussels and London of how to manage a no-deal outcome. “We need to be focusing on the intensification of negotiations to try and find a way forward, as opposed to this tough stance that some people feel the need to take,” he said.

European Council president Donald Tusk will decide in the next five weeks whether to use the Salzburg gathering on ­September 20 to try to rescue the negotiations.

Until now EU leaders have insisted that all Brexit negotiations have to be conducted through Mr Barnier. But diplomatic sources said Mrs Merkel had expressed concerns that the talks were going nowhere. “There is a sense of drift,” said a source. “It is time for leaders to have a serious discussion in the European Council.”

Another added: “There is potential to have talks between all 28 EU leaders.”

Privately, the commission has already rejected Mrs May’s white-paper plans for Britain in effect to remain inside the single market for goods. It said there “cannot be give and take” on the EU’s four freedoms: the movement of goods, capital, services and labour. The proposals for a facilitated customs arrangement where Britain collected tariffs on behalf of Brussels were dismissed as unworkable.

They fear that unless EU leaders intervene directly the commission will kill off the proposals, isolating Mrs May and raising the chance of no deal. Some fear that this could come as early as this week. Ministers have been told that the EU’s Brexit team is hoping to undermine Mrs May’s “backstop” plan, which would result in all of the UK staying inside the customs union if necessary to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

They also want to use the EU text as the basis for the negotiation rather than the language from the white paper, while making it clear that the proposals in it do not work.

Whitehall sources said that Mrs May would tell European leaders that she has “evolved”, or softened, her position in the white paper, which deserves a similar EU response. “It is time for the EU side to show some creativity too,” said one source.

In a further development, Mr Coveney said he would support Britain if it sought to extend the two-year Article 50 process that takes Britain up to its expected departure on March 29.

Meanwhile, Mrs May said the public should take “reassurance and comfort” from preparations for a no-deal exit.

Interviewed by 5 News on Britain’s Channel 5, she did not deny that there would be stockpiling but said the government was being “sensible” while still trying to get a good deal.

The Times