EU ‘ready to talk’ about Brexit withdrawal deal — but will not bend on Irish backstop

The European Commission said it was ready to discuss Britain’s departure from the bloc with Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the coming weeks, while insisting that the Brexit withdrawal agreement could not be renegotiated.

The offer to speak with Mr Johnson came as the tone escalated between Brussels and London, with Cabinet Minister Michael Gove claiming the EU was “refusing to negotiate with the UK” over a new Brexit deal that does not include the so-called Irish backstop.

In turn, Commission officials said the government’s hardline stance – with its demand to renegotiate a deal that took two years to thrash out – shows the EU should expect the UK to crash out of the bloc without a deal.

Mr Johnson has demanded a reopening of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Theresa May, which was rejected three times by MPs.

As things stand, Britain will leave the EU on October 31 whether it has agreed a new deal or not.

Officials in Brussels say the working assumption now is that Mr Johnson is not serious about renegotiating the current deal.

EU officials nonetheless invited Mr Johnson to work with them. The Brexit agreement “is the best possible deal” that Britain is going to get, Commission spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt said: “The Commission does remain available over the coming weeks should the United Kingdom wish to hold talks and clarify its position in more detail, whether by phone or in person.”

The EU has rejected Mr Johnson’s demands to scrap the Irish backstop, which was included in the painstakingly negotiated withdrawal agreement at Britain’s insistence.

Officials point out that this is an insurance policy aimed at preventing a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic in the event the UK and EU fail to negotiate a long-term trade deal.

They say Britain has not offered any proposals for alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop, so there is currently no basis for “meaningful discussions” on the withdrawal agreement.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sounded a note of optimism in Belfast, when he said that a no-deal Brexit was still avoidable, adding there were “a number of ways” in which it could be avoided.

Leo Varadkar warned that in a no-deal scenario, both the EU and the UK would need to work together. “Brexit is not a storm we weather, it is a permanent change and that needs to be borne in mind,” he said.