May faces scrutiny over alternative backstop arrangements

Evidence of Theresa May's "alternative arrangements" for the Irish backstop proved to be elusive on Wednesday as the pressure increased on her to convince the EU to reopen its agreed deal.

After May won a thin 16 vote majority to renegotiate the contentious backstop, the EU closed ranks and insisted that the withdrawal agreement signed last November could not be altered.

May held talks with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Westminster and also took a 45 minute a phone call with EU President Donald Tusk to discuss the next steps ahead of another parliamentary vote next month.

At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday May was only able to proffer “a unilateral exit mechanism or a time limit to the backstop” and vague technological solutions to prevent a return to a hard border between the six counties of Northern Ireland and Ireland.

After the face-to-face talks on Wednesday afternoon, Corbyn's aides said May had given serious consideration to a customs union after Brexit, although Downing Street later said the prime minister had not shifted position.

Tusk said his message to May was “clear and consistent”. “The withdrawal agreement is not open for renegotiation. Yesterday, we found out what the UK doesn’t want. But we still don’t know what the UK does want,” he said.

There was also harsh criticism from chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier at May for tearing up the withdrawal deal she had touted as the only solution to break the Brexit impasse.

“She took distance from the agreement she herself negotiated and on which we had reached an agreement,” Barnier told MEPs during a debate in the European parliament.

“Rejecting the backstop as it stands today boils down to rejecting the solution as we found it with the British.”

“Calmly, I will say, right here and now, we need this backstop as it is.”

European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, also addressing the parliament, attacked the view by some British MPs that the EU would simply accede to the UK's demands.

“The agreement will not be renegotiated. I get the impression some hope the other 26 will abandon the backstop and Ireland, but this is not a game,” he said.

“It goes to the heart of what being a member of the EU means. Ireland’s border is Europe’s border and it’s our union’s priority.”