Boris Johnson is meeting the EU’s two most powerful national leaders, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, later this week. Last night, ahead of those meetings, he released his first proposal since he became prime minister for how the Brexit deal might be renegotiated. It came in the form of an open letter to Donald Tusk, the outgoing European commission president. You can read the four-page letter in full here (pdf). And here is our overnight story.
Here is the key extract, where Johnson proposes how the backstop might be replaced.
This government will not put in place infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. We would be happy to accept a legally binding commitment to this effect and hope that the EU would do likewise.
We must also respect the aim to find ‘flexible and creative’ solutions to the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland. That means that alternative ways of managing the customs and regulatory differences contingent on Brexit must be explored.
The reality is that there are already two separate legal, political, economic, and monetary jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. This system is already administered without contention and with an open border.
The UK and the EU have already agreed that ‘alternative arrangements’ can be part of the solution. Accordingly:
– I propose that the backstop should be replaced with a commitment to put in place such arrangements as far as possible before the end of the transition period, as part of the future relationship.
– I also recognise that there will need to be a degree of confidence about what would happen if these arrangements were not all fully in place at the end of that period. We are ready to look constructively and flexibly at what commitments might help, consistent of course with the principles set out in this letter.
This morning opinion is divided as to whether this is a genuine offer, that could open the door to a very unlikely but not 100% impossible compromise solution, or just an elaborate exercise in attempted blame deflection. As is often the case when trying to explain motive in politics, it is probably best to assume that both factors are in play.
But the opposition parties have been damning. Last night Labour issued this response, from the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Tony Lloyd.
Boris Johnson seems to have forgotten that he voted for Theresa May’s deal including the backstop.
Whichever Brexit outcome he pursues, whether it’s a disastrous no deal or this fantasyland wish list, Boris Johnson clearly has no qualms about putting jobs, rights, prosperity or peace in Northern Ireland at risk.
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, posted this on Twitter.
Keir Starmer
(@Keir_Starmer)This letter confirms that Johnson has no negotiating strategy. He suggests (unspecified) alternatives to the backstop. And if they don’t work: further (unspecified) alternatives to the backstop. Why didn’t anyone think of that before! https://t.co/AispOLuWoM
And the Liberal Democrats’ Brexit spokesman, Tom Brake, put out a statement saying:
The backstop, agreed between the UK government and the EU, is there to guarantee no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Boris Johnson’s proposal to replace it with ‘a commitment to put in place arrangements as far as possible before the end of the transition period’ is so vague as to be deeply embarrassing.
The border issue remains intractable and Johnson’s intervention simply highlights after three years the Conservative government are no closer to identifying a credible solution.
I will be posting more reaction as the day goes on.
With parliament in recess, and much of the political class on holiday, there are only two diary items on the agenda for today.
11am: Jeremy Corbyn holds a meeting with business leaders in Hertfordshire. He is urging the government to publish the Operation Yellowhammer assessments of how disruptive a no-deal Brexit would be.
1.30pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is interviewed by Matt Forde at an Edinburgh fringe event.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary at about 12.30pm and another when I wrap up. Unusually, I will be taking a break over lunch, so the blog will go quiet then for a bit.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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