BREXIT - Did they blink?

[Sephiroth]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/n...mise-l8mcq5nzw

EU countries are secretly wooing Boris Johnson in a bid to thrash out a new Brexit plan that would avoid a no-deal disaster as he prepares to take over as prime minister this week.

"Senior Irish politicians and diplomats have held peace talks with two of Johnson’s cabinet allies in recent days.

German and French figures, as well as the Dutch and Belgian governments, have also established contacts with Johnson’s team and signalled an intention to do a deal.

In an article today for The Sunday Times, Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs, indicates that Dublin is prepared to compromise.

Coveney writes that the withdrawal agreement concluded with Theresa May, which includes the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, is “not up…"

[pip08456]

Amazing what happens when No Deal becomes a real possibility. I would hope those in Parliament who have been so vocal against it have learned a lesson.

[papa smurf]

Seems like the real problem was a weak primeminister.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Seems like the real problem was a weak primeminister.

That as well!

[murfitUK]

Hey Seph. Pity your quote of the article ended before the most important point. Namely that the NI backstop is NOT up for negotiation.

This is the reason the WA couldn't get through parliament. Now we have both leadership contenders saying there cannot be a backstop and all EU countries including Ireland saying there must be a backstop.

Note also that Ireland's deputy prime minister would like to prevent no deal, not for his own country but to avoid the NI economy being devastated.

The solution they are looking at will align NI & Ireland to avoid border checks but this will then mean that NI is treated differently to the rest of the UK which Arlene "no no no" Foster and her DUP will never allow.

And any deal that the new PM and the EU come up with will still have to be approved by Parliament - and there simply isn't a majority for anything there at the moment.

[1andrew1]

In his article for The Sunday Times, Simon Covener states that the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for negotiation. https://twitter.com/dfatirl?lang=en

[Carth]

Well, if certain parties are unwilling to negotiate it looks like a 'no deal' to me



. . . unless anyone knows different?

[nomadking]

Bit late in the day for the EU to be supposedly negotiating. I wonder if this is just a tactic by the EU to block Brexit completely, by delaying things. At no point has the EU offered anything other than a no-deal Brexit. There is nothing available that isn't a no-deal Brexit. Are we expected to sign up to whatever "deal" the EU deigns to offer us? That is what the anti-no deal people are effectively saying.

Did I miss the part where we said Brexit talk was allowed again ?

We have a brexit topic, currently closed, so lets not be starting new ones eh.