Barnier says delay of Article 50 is wrong priority

The UK should focus more on finding a consensual Brexit agreement than stopping a no-deal departure, the European's chief negotiator said on Wednesday.

Barnier was speaking as Labour MP Yvette Cooper garnered support for an amendment next week that would force an extension to Article 50 if a no-deal Brexit looked likely.

“There appears to be a majority in the Commons to oppose a no-deal but opposing a no-deal will not stop a no-deal from happening at the end of March”, Barnier said in a speech in Brussels.

Meanwhile, ultra-right MPs who want to crash out without a deal suggested they might approve Prime Minister Theresa May's existing plan if it removed the Irish backstop as fears among their supporters grew that Brexit might be delayed or stopped altogether.

They also increased the stakes by demanding a change in the £39bn “divorce” bill agreed with the EU.

Barnier said the EU needed “decisions more than we need time actually”.

“I don’t know whether postponing or extending will be raised but its the head of state and government that will have to answer that question by consensus. Some have said to me that if the question is raised, then why would we do that? What would the purpose be? How long would be required?”

“If the UK red lines were to evolve in the next few weeks or months the union would be ready immediately and open to other models of relationships which are more ambitious”, Barnier said.

Under the backstop, the UK would stay in a customs union with the EU unless an alternative arrangement could avoid the imposition of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, suggested his party would back Cooper's plan, saying it was “highly likely”.

“Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible ... so I think it’s increasingly likely already that we’ll have to take that option because the government has run the clock down,” he said.

“It’s highly likely but we’ll go through our normal process of consultation with our members,” he said.

If successful, the Bill would give parliament control over the final stages of the Brexit process if there is no parliamentary consensus on a deal by February 26 and give the final say on preventing a no-deal Brexit and extending Article 50.