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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/30/hardline-conservative-brexiters-open-door-to-support-for-deal
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| Hardline Conservative Brexiters open door to support for deal | Hardline Conservative Brexiters open door to support for deal |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Signs have emerged that the hardline position of the Conservative party’s most Eurosceptic backbenchers has softened just days before Boris Johnson’s team are due to enter a “tunnel” of secret negotiations with Brussels. | Signs have emerged that the hardline position of the Conservative party’s most Eurosceptic backbenchers has softened just days before Boris Johnson’s team are due to enter a “tunnel” of secret negotiations with Brussels. |
| Mark Francois, the deputy chair of the European Research Group, has opened the door to a potential Brexit deal, indicating he would look at one even if it included a version of the controversial Irish border backstop to which the Eurosceptic ERG was once implacably opposed. | Mark Francois, the deputy chair of the European Research Group, has opened the door to a potential Brexit deal, indicating he would look at one even if it included a version of the controversial Irish border backstop to which the Eurosceptic ERG was once implacably opposed. |
| During a heated and sometimes bad-tempered event on the party conference fringe, he indicated that the “Spartan” wing of the party was in the mood for a deal. | |
| “It has been sometimes been said that we will vote against anything regardless. That’s not true,” he said referring to the bloc of 28 backbenchers who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal three times. | “It has been sometimes been said that we will vote against anything regardless. That’s not true,” he said referring to the bloc of 28 backbenchers who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal three times. |
| “If there is some form of deal, be it over the backstop or anything else, then I and my colleagues will look at it and read it very carefully, because at the end of the day you are talking about international treaty law. So I’ll look at a deal if there is one,” he said. | “If there is some form of deal, be it over the backstop or anything else, then I and my colleagues will look at it and read it very carefully, because at the end of the day you are talking about international treaty law. So I’ll look at a deal if there is one,” he said. |
| Francois’ comments were seen as a subtle shift in approach for the ERG, whose support could unlock a deal for Boris Johnson. | Francois’ comments were seen as a subtle shift in approach for the ERG, whose support could unlock a deal for Boris Johnson. |
| The British government’s version of Brexit involves the UK ultimately leaving the single market and customs union, requiring the return of a range of checks on goods crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The “backstop” is intended as a standstill placeholder to ensure such checks do not have to be imposed between Brexit happening with a deal, and the start of a new free trade agreement yet to be negotiated between the UK and the EU. | |
| Theresa May's withdrawal agreement proposed keeping the whole of the UK in a shared customs territory with the EU during this period. An alternative idea involves only Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s customs territory. That would place a customs border in the Irish Sea. May described it as a threat to the constitutional integrity of the UK, but the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has opened the current talks by proposing an all-Ireland agri-food zone. The suggestion is that he will seek to quietly build on that with further NI-only arrangements. | |
| Given an NI-only backstop was an EU proposal in the first place, the U-turn would be warmly welcomed in Brussels, although attempts to give the Northern Ireland assembly a veto on its continuation would not be acceptable, and the DUP would be unlikely to support the prime minister in such a move in parliament. | |
| If there is a no-deal Brexit, then there is no backstop. | |
| Daniel Boffey | |
| As recently as August, the de facto whip of the ERG warned that Johnson must honour his promise to kill off Theresa May’s deal completely. | As recently as August, the de facto whip of the ERG warned that Johnson must honour his promise to kill off Theresa May’s deal completely. |
| Johnson has publicly said May’s withdrawal agreement is dead but the formal proposals, due to go to the EU next week, are expected to revolve around a revised backstop for Northern Ireland involving an agreement for agri-food on the island of Ireland and a possible time limit on the other elements of the backstop. | Johnson has publicly said May’s withdrawal agreement is dead but the formal proposals, due to go to the EU next week, are expected to revolve around a revised backstop for Northern Ireland involving an agreement for agri-food on the island of Ireland and a possible time limit on the other elements of the backstop. |
| “My acid test will be: does it mean we genuinely leave the EU?” Francois told a meeting organised by the Eurosceptic thinktank Bruges Group. | “My acid test will be: does it mean we genuinely leave the EU?” Francois told a meeting organised by the Eurosceptic thinktank Bruges Group. |
| “I want nothing more than to see the sun rise on 1 November on a free country,” he said to cheers. | “I want nothing more than to see the sun rise on 1 November on a free country,” he said to cheers. |
| He said his support for a deal “rather depends what’s in it … As a so-called Spartan, if it means we genuinely leave the EU, if it means we genuinely leave on Halloween, I will be the first in the aye lobby. If it really means we don’t then I will vote against it and if we don’t no amount of browbeating will make me change my mind.” | |
| His remarks follow weeks of shifting mood over the Irish backstop. The Democratic Unionist party, which was implacably opposed to the backstop, has also indicated it was in the mood for a deal. It is understood that the DUP has been consulted on the plans that Johnson is to take to Brussels next week. | His remarks follow weeks of shifting mood over the Irish backstop. The Democratic Unionist party, which was implacably opposed to the backstop, has also indicated it was in the mood for a deal. It is understood that the DUP has been consulted on the plans that Johnson is to take to Brussels next week. |
| Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, also hinted last week that there could be amendments to the withdrawal agreement but warned there was still a huge gap between the UK and Irish positions. | Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, also hinted last week that there could be amendments to the withdrawal agreement but warned there was still a huge gap between the UK and Irish positions. |
| The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, said she would look at the possibility of a backstop with a time limit but warned that agreeing to consider one was not the same as “advocating” one. | The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, said she would look at the possibility of a backstop with a time limit but warned that agreeing to consider one was not the same as “advocating” one. |
| She told the Bruges Group: “It would be good to get rid of the iniquitous backstop” but added that it would be “good to get a deal”. | She told the Bruges Group: “It would be good to get rid of the iniquitous backstop” but added that it would be “good to get a deal”. |
| She called for space to be given to negotiators, who now have fewer than 17 days to come up with a deal before the next EU summit. | |
| “A period of silence will be welcome,” she said, criticising commentators in the UK, Ireland and the EU. | “A period of silence will be welcome,” she said, criticising commentators in the UK, Ireland and the EU. |
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