PM says she has ‘legally binding changes’ on Brexit deal

Theresa May says she has secured “legally binding changes” to the fraught issue of the Northern Ireland backstop – hours before MPs are due to vote on her Brexit deal.

Mrs May flew to Strasbourg late on Monday afternoon for last-ditch talks with senior EU figures in an attempt to break the Brexit impasse.

Shortly after 10pm, her de facto deputy David Lidington told the House of Commons her talks had brought long-awaited changes after months of work.

Mr Lidington said: “Tonight we will be laying two new documents in the House; a joint legally binding instrument on the Withdrawal Agreement and protocol on Northern Ireland and a joint statement to supplement the political declaration.

“The first provides confirmation that the EU cannot try to trap the UK in the backstop indefinitely and that doing so would be an explicit breach of the legally binding commitments that both sides have agreed.”

Mr Lidington said the “joint instrument” reflects the commitment to “replace the backstop with alternative arrangements by December 2020”.

He told the Commons: “The second document is a joint statement supplementing the Political Declaration, which outlines a number of commitments by the United Kingdom and the European Union to enhance and expedite the process of negotiating and bringing into force the future relationship – for example, it makes reference to the possibility of provisional application of such future agreement – and it sets out in detail how the specific negotiating track on alternative arrangements will operate.”

Mr Lidington told MPs their choice was between voting for the deal, or plunging the country into political crisis.

In Strasbourg, Mrs May and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave a news conference in which she urged her MPs to “back the improved Brexit deal”.

Mrs May said she has set out a timetable to negotiate the arrangements for the border solution, which will be in place by December 2020, allowing the UK to avoid using the “insurance” of the backstop.

She said she “passionately believed” the deal had now addressed concerns raised by parliament in January – and claimed she had ensured there would be “no indefinite backstop”, with attempts to keep the UK in the EU dealt with by an “arbitration mechanism”.

In a tweet, Mr Juncker said: “Our agreement provides meaningful clarifications and legal guarantees to the Withdrawal Agreement and backstop.

“The choice is clear: it is this deal, or Brexit may not happen at all. Let’s bring the UK’s withdrawal to an orderly end. We owe it to history.”

He also warned that there would be no “third chance” and no “further reassurances” if MPs fail to back her agreement.

Mrs May’s big move has been met with cynicism, with some opponents suggesting everything remained the same.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the changes “add nothing” from the letter Mrs May brought back in negotiations on 14 January.

He said: “If all that’s happening is to turn this letter into an interpretative tool for legal purposes, I remind the House what the prime minister said on 14 January about this letter.

“She said she had been advised this letter would have legal force in international law.

“To stand here today and say this is a significant change when she’s repeating what she said on 14 January is not going to take anyone here far.”

It may have been enough to win her cabinet’s support, with one senior figure telling Sky’s Beth Rigby: “I’m in good mood but we will see… [if she] secured a good move.”

Sky News’ political correspondent Lewis Goodall said: “Fundamental point from tonight: not a word of the withdrawal agreement has changed.”

Nigel Dodds, the Westminster leader of the DUP, said “everything will need to be taken together” and that the party will “study the detail” of the changes.

In the EU, one source told Reuters: “It’s irrelevant if she doesn’t bring along the missing votes. And on that it’s once again hoping without any assurances.”

Another said: “Let’s hope it will be enough for the UK parliament.”

The House of Commons is to vote three times on Brexit issues this week, with a second meaningful vote on the deal taking place on Tuesday afternoon.

But the prime minister is bracing for another hefty defeat, after the last meaningful vote suffered the largest defeat in the history of the Commons.

She has failed to win over many more MPs to her deal, most of whom have qualms over the backstop on the border of the island of Ireland.

The backstop is a customs plan to avoid a “hard” border between Ireland and Northern Ireland if a Brexit deal is not reached.

(c) Sky News 2019: PM says she has ‘legally binding changes’ on Brexit deal