Boris Johnson vows to 'step up the tempo' of Brexit talks
The PM says he has been "encouraged" by the recent reaction from the EU and it is "now time for both sides to step up the tempo".
Friday 30 August 2019 09:10, UK
Boris Johnson has said talks with the European Union will be stepped up in the coming weeks in a bid to secure a new Brexit deal.
UK negotiators will now meet their EU counterparts twice a week, a significant increase on the current rate.
The prime minister had previously suggested there would be little point to discussions until the EU accepted the needs for changes to the existing agreement.
But writing overnight, Mr Johnson said he was "encouraged" by the reaction from EU leaders, adding that it was "now time for both sides to step up the tempo" ahead of the 31 October Brexit deadline.
The prime minister met with his European counterparts in Paris and Berlin last week and at the G7 summit over the weekend.
Downing Street indicated the two sides remained some distance apart on key issues but said the talks would include discussions about the Irish backstop, which Mr Johnson wants removed.
Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney said "nothing credible" had yet to be presented by the UK government in terms of alternatives to the backstop.
Arriving for talks on Friday with his EU counterparts in Helsinki, Finland, he said: "There is no country that wants a deal more than Ireland.
"But that deal has to be based on the withdrawal agreement and has to be consistent with that."
He added: "If there are alternatives to the backstop that do the same job, well then let's hear them.
"And if we can work out a deal on that basis, so be it. But it's got to be credible.
"It cannot simply be this notion that we must have the backstop removed and we'll solve this problem in the future negotiations, without any credible way of doing that. That's not going to fly."
However, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News that Mr Coveney's claim was "just not true", adding: "We are putting forward ideas".
"No country which has voted to leave the EU can accept as part of that deal an anti-democratic backstop - in this case applied to Northern Ireland - which means that not all of the country would leave Europe at the same time and in the same way," he said.
"This is a very basic, fundamental fact - no self-respecting sovereign state could accept that."
He added: "We are putting forward alternatives.
"Between the Republic [of Ireland] and Northern Ireland we already have, if you think about it, different legal systems, different political systems, different economic systems, different money in these different countries.
"So the idea that, suddenly, you tick over to 1 November and everything is change and it's all impossible to handle is already untrue because you've already got two different systems.
"We've put forward ideas about trusted trader schemes using the technology that's already available to do this.
"So it's a cover when they keep saying 'you're not putting forward ideas'. We are putting forward ideas."
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The ramping up of negotiations with the EU will be seen as an effort to quell concern among some in the Conservative Party about the prime minister's Brexit strategy.
Conservative former ministers have said they are prepared to take action next week to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Speaking to Sky News, Tory grandee Kenneth Clarke went further and said he "probably would" vote for Jeremy Corbyn to become a caretaker prime minister if it meant avoiding no-deal.
In a further sign of a unified approach among critics of the government, six opposition parties have signed a joint statement calling for the suspension of parliament to be reversed and saying there is "no mandate" for no-deal.
It comes as the Department for Transport said it would invest £30m in ports, road and rail links to help them get ready for Brexit.
The money will come from a £2bn pot allocated by the Treasury earlier this year for additional Brexit preparations.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the money will "boost capacity and efficiency".
Labour has said the amount is "nowhere near enough" given the scale of the challenge faced by ports after Brexit.