PRIME MINISTER Theresa May’s chief Brexit adviser has been overheard saying that he expects a Brexit delay is likely and that the backstop is “a bridge” to a long-term trading relationship with the EU.
ITV correspondent Angus Walker has reported that he overheard Oliver Robbins in a hotel bar in Brussels saying that he expects MPs to have a choice between either backing May’s withdrawal deal or to extend talks with the EU.
May has consistently ruled out extending the UK’s departure date of 29 March.
Following Walker’s report a government spokesperson is quoted saying: “We don’t propose to comment on alleged remarks from a private conversation.”
Robbins was apparently overheard last night saying that he expects MPs to be presented with either backing a reworked Brexit deal in March or backing a potentially significant delay to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
According to ITV’s Walker, Robbins was heard to have said: “The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension. In the end they will probably just give us an extension.”
During the conversation Robbins was also overheard to have said that the backstop – which would keep the UK in the customs union – was designed not as a “safety net” for the island of Ireland but as “a bridge” to the long-term trading relationship. May has consistently denied this, however.
“The big clash all along is the ‘safety net’,” Walker has reported Robbins as saying. “We agreed a bridge but it came out as a ‘safety net’.”
Robbins, a powerful civil servant in the British government, has served as May’s Europe Adviser since September 2017.
Prominent backbench MP Andrea Jenkyns has said that if Robbins’ comments were true then May should “stop ignoring the wishes of the Brit(ish) people” and pursue the Matlhouse Compromise.
Conservative MP Steve Baker, however, has thrown cold water over Walker’s report saying that “as a consummate civil servant, Olly Robbins is likely to be appalled by this story.”
“Officials advise. Ministers decide. What matters ultimately is the policy of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet,” Baker tweeted. “If the PM decides we are leaving on 29 March, deal or no deal, that will happen.”
As a consummate civil servant, @OllyRobbins is likely to be appalled by this story.
— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) February 12, 2019
Officials advise. Ministers decide. What matters ultimately is the policy of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
If the PM decides we are leaving on 29 March, deal or no deal, that will happen. https://t.co/b79qbUK20f
John Longworth, Chairman of the Leave Means Leave campaign remarked that “if it is true that Britain’s chief negotiator was carelessly briefing in a bar on the UK position in the Brexit negotiations, it clearly demonstrates the casual overreach of Olly Robbins.”
“It is not for a civil servant to be speculating publicly on any matter, let alone one of such national importance and it is not for a civil servant to be formulating policy publicly.”
Following further talks in Brussels and a trip to Dublin last Friday, May today said that legally binding changes need to be made to the backstop, listing three different options she suggested to the EU.
In a statement to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister said that the EU have been told that alternative arrangements could be given to the current backstop, which proposes certain regulatory alignment on the island of Ireland in order to avoid a hard border.
The other two options the EU were told was a legally binding time limit, or legally binding unilateral exit, both of which have been opposed by the EU and Ireland.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say