The Labour MP has come out all guns blazing and slammed the bloc for ruling out any changes to the controversial Irish backstop. Ahead of the Prime Minister’s scheduled meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron this week, the leading eurosceptic has urged Mr Johnson to make it “crystal clear” the UK will leave the EU in just 72 days time on October 31. Ms Hoey told Express.co.uk: “The reaction from the European Union to the letter from the UK Prime Minister ruling out any backstop shows that they still do not believe that we will Leave on October 31st without a withdrawal agreement.
“I would urge Boris Johnson to make it crystal clear to the German Chancellor and the French President when he meets them this week that the patience of the British people is running out. “
The Labour MP added: “There is no support in Parliament for the backstop and he should tell them that the 17.4 million people who voted Leave back his determination to stick to his promise that we will Leave on October 31 come what may.
“I would also urge him not to waste any more time in discussions with the EU until they are prepared to re-open the entire Withdrawal agreement.”
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The backlash against the bloc comes after Mr Johnson called for Brussels to ditch the “anti-democratic” backstop on the Island of Ireland from the deal, as he believes it risks undermining the Good Friday Agreement.
However the demand was firmly rejected by the bloc after European Council president Donald Tusk said there is no other alternative to avoiding a hard border.
In response to the Prime Minister’s letter, Mr Tusk said: “The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found.
“Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.”
Undetermined by the lack of movement from Brussels, Mr Johnson maintains “the backstop is going to come out”.
Ahead of his visit to Berlin on Wednesday and Paris on Thursday, the Prime Minister said there are ”plenty of other creative solutions” to the Northern Irish backstop.
He told ITV News: “I think it’s a bit paradoxical that the EU side is talking about us putting up all the barriers, we’ve made it clear 1,000 times we don’t want to see any checks on the Northern Irish frontier at all, under no circumstances let me repeat again, under no circumstances will the Govt of the United Kingdom be putting checks on the N.Irish frontier.
“By contrast, it is the EU who currently claim that the single market and the plurality of the single market require them to have such checks – I don’t think that’s true.
“I’m going to go of course and see if I can explore those ideas with our friends in Germany and France and at the G7 – let’s see where we get to.
“It may be that for now, they stick with the mantra, rien ne va plus, and they can’t change a jot or a title of the Withdrawal Agreement.”
Additional reporting by Ciaran McGrath.
