They’re BLUFFING! Theresa May urged not to bow to EU pressure to meet Brexit deadline
THERESA May has been ordered to agree a Brexit deal by Friday for talks to turn to trade, but European Union bureaucrats could be bluffing, Brexiteers have warned.
UK government officials have accused Brussels of using “negotiating tactics” in a bid to pressure the prime minister into moving on to phase two of talks.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has told members that unless a deal can be reached before then end of the day on Friday, discussions about Britain’s future relationship with the bloc will have to wait until January.
But a government official said it was all “about political will”.
They told Politico: “If we came back with a deal on Monday they could do it.
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It's all about political will
“The guidelines are practically done anyway. Even if we came back Wednesday it might be possible.
“Everyone wants progress — them as much as us. It really is about political will at this stage. That said, we do have to get our own house in order first, that’s true.”
Tory backbencher and Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin branded the apparent deadline an “EU negotiating tactic” and urged Mrs May not to be “intimidated”.
And progress on a Brexit agreement could also be interrupted by the calendar of European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who is “out of town” on Friday and Saturday and therefore unavailable for talks.
Brexit negotiations continue
Mon, December 4, 2017Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party accused Britain on Tuesday of keeping it in the dark over a proposed Brexit deal on the Irish border but said it would examine the text after blocking an agreement in Brussels
Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the EC headquarters in Brussels
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However, Remain-supporting Tory MP Anna Soubry urged Theresa May to get on with agreeing a deal by the end of the week, highlighting deep divisions in Mrs May’s own government.
She called for Mrs May to “rub out her red lines” and reach a “realistic deal” because British businesses were “increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress” in talks.
She added: “The Conservatives are the party of business — time to prove it.”
Mrs May has been facing growing turmoil after a failed attempt to strike a deal with the EU on the Irish border – a deal that could have pushed EU leaders to vote in favour of discussing future trade arrangements at the upcoming December EU Summit in Brussels.
But Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster scuppered the arrangement – which would have effectively kept Northern Ireland inside the single market and the customs union – and refused to support any proposal that would see Northern Ireland treated differently than the rest of the United Kingdom during Brexit.
