If this is Mrs May’s plan to beat the Irish ‘backstop’ impasse, it’s already dead in the water
Leo Varadkar and Theresa May: They both know it would be easier to do a bilateral deal – but that simply isn’t how Brexit is being done.
It would be typical of a Tory – when they can’t get what they want by following the rules, they ignore the rules altogether.
Theresa May knows the UK cannot negotiate a bilateral deal with any of the EU27 nations, just to suit herself; the UK is dealing with the whole bloc, or with nobody.
But that hasn’t worked for her, so we’re being told she’s going cap in hand to the Republic of Ireland:
https://twitter.com/NinaDSchick/status/1086894551225303043
Bear in mind, this is from The Times, a newspaper that claimed membership of the Labour Party has plummeted by something like 150,000, when in fact Labour membership is continuing to rise.
And sure enough, it seems this is more wishful thinking, to judge by coverage in the Independent.
That paper stated: “A Downing Street source said talk of a bilateral agreement with Ireland was ‘not something we recognise’.
“Ms May will update the Commons on Monday on how she plans to proceed.”
And we’ll see whether Downing Street recognises anything different at that time.
But the message seems clear:
A bilateral treaty on the Irish border in lieu of the #backstop would be legally incompetent, politically illiterate & un-negotiable in Brussels. No point wasting time pursuing ever larger unicorns as no deal looms #Brexit
— William Bain (@William_Bain) January 19, 2019
And here’s the word from Ireland:
Sky Sources: the Irish Government says there is "not a hope" a bilateral treaty with the UK to remove the need for the backstop and bypass the EU in the Brexit deal will happen
— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) January 20, 2019
So: Both Downing Street and the Irish government say a bilateral agreement isn’t on the cards, and it wold be illegal in any case.
But Mrs May won’t be able to get her Brexit deal past the DUP and many of her own Tory MPs without an undertaking to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic open.
It seems Mrs May would have better spent the last week talking to herself. Some may say that’s what she’s been doing.
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Another plant story – classic neo-liberal tactics – suggest or “leak” an idea, often backed by some “think tank”, to the press that is so extreme that it is invariably immediately rubbished, just to see what the response is. Then a few days later reveal a slightly watered down variation, which every sheeple will then think is not so bad after all.
Whole Brexit issue is a big “Tory Con”. It is a fact(especially now) that firstly, the case for Brexit was built on lies(e.g.£350m savings which is available for our NHS,etc).Secondly, Boris(the so-called “father of Brexit____”) and N.Farage(another ardent Brexiteer) have disappeared from British political scene!
Now, we have confusion & chaos.
A Zombie Government being propped up by a Ghost Government ?
Brexit really is some sort of Horror Story !
Spot on Stu – a living nightmare.
This idea was clearly insanity for about a dozen reasons I thought of all at once, and therefore struggled to list to myself before forgetting half of them. I’m beginning to think that the pressure of the situation has left May unhinged.
But she brought this on herself by handling the first 18 months of negotiations in such a dishonest and cack-handed way.
May and her equally odious cronies don’t care who gets hurt or killed, just as long as, however precariously, they can cling on to power and continue to take us all back to the 18th/19th centuries.
nmac064 You couldn’t have put it more accurately and I totally agree with you!