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LONDON (Reuters) – US Prime Minister Theresa May will inform parliament Monday that 95 percent of the UK's divorce deal is now settled and reiterates her opposition to the European Union's proposal. to create a land border with Northern Ireland.
PHOTO FILE: British Prime Minister Theresa May gives a press conference at the EU leaders' summit in Brussels, Belgium, on October 18, 2018. REUTERS / Toby Melville / File Photo
Faced with the strongest criticism to date on his Brexit plans after the two sides reached an agreement again at a summit last week, May will try to calm the passions of Parliament where his strategy has angered the eurosceptics and the supporters of the EU.
A little more than five months before Britain's departure from the EU, the talks resulted in a disagreement over the so-called North Irish support, an insurance policy guaranteeing that there will be no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland if a future business relationship is not agreed in time.
But May's attempt to unblock the talks by considering an extension of the transitional period to the status quo beyond the proposed December 2021 deadline has also fueled passions here.
In an attempt to underline the progress made over more than a year of talks with the EU, she will tell Parliament that the government has reached agreement on everything from Gibraltar to future security over the past three weeks.
"Taking all this into account, 95% of the withdrawal agreement and its protocols are now settled," she says, according to excerpts from her statement to Parliament.
"The form of agreement in the vast majority of the withdrawal agreement is now clear."
But the withdrawal agreement, or the terms of the British divorce, can not be signed until both sides agree on Irish support for the North.
At an EU summit last week, such an agreement seemed as far ahead as the previous months, with EU officials and diplomats saying that May had not offered anything to again to unblock the negotiations.
Since then, the May proposal to lengthen the transition period has hardly calmed the anger of the Eurosceptics of the ruling conservative party, who fear it will lead Britain to an agreement that will make Britain a "vassal state", unable to leave the EU.
On Sunday, Brexit Minister Dominic Raab made the suggestion, saying that London could accept such a move if the EU abandoned its proposed security system, which, according to May, would tear Ireland apart from North of Great Britain.
May will reiterate its opposition to the EU proposal – that Northern Ireland remain in the bloc's customs union, which could create barriers to trade with the rest of Britain – while it tries to dispel the growing frustration among its parliamentary partners, a party in Northern Ireland.
"As I explained last week, the initial EU security proposal was a proposal we could not accept because it would involve creating a customs border along the sea of Europe. 39, Ireland and break the integrity of the UK, "she said.
"I do not believe that a British prime minister can ever accept that. And I certainly will not do it. "
Reportage by Elizabeth Piper; Edited by Kirsten Donovan
