Home Brexit Irish foreign minister says backstop ‘isn’t going to change’

Irish foreign minister says backstop ‘isn’t going to change’

by Sarah Dunsby
28th Jan 19 6:59 am

Theresa May has been told Sunday, by Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney that the backstop “isn’t going to change” as this is “already a compromise.”

Coveney said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, “The backstop is already a compromise. It is a series of compromises.

“It was designed around British red lines.

“Ireland has the same position as the European Union now, I think, when we say that the backstop as part of the Withdrawal Agreement is part of a balanced package that isn’t going to change.”

MPs could lose their February break as more work is needed by the government to consult Parliament, Brexit legislation must be finalised ready for the statute book prior to the EU withdrawal date of, 29 March.

Yvette Cooper, MP said to Marr, she does not know if she has Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn’s backing. She is not looking to “block Brexit,” she wants to avoid a no deal Brexit.

She said, “I hope he will support it – he obviously needs to make a decision in the normal way.

“I suppose what I would say to him, to the Prime Minister, to the Government ministers who I think also want to make sure that we don’t have no deal is in the end we can’t… keep waiting for other people to sort this out.

“We can’t carry on with a kind of game of chicken. That’s not a way to make sensible decisions.

“In the end someone has to take some responsibility and say, if the Prime Minister runs out of time she may need some more time, that is not about blocking Brexit, that is about being responsible and making sure you can get a Brexit deal.”

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