Hardline Brexiteers join taskforce in search of Brexit deal
Tory MPs on both sides of the Brexit divide have been asked to join discussions to decide on changes to Theresa May's exit deal.
Monday 4 February 2019 13:43, UK
Brexit Secretary聽Stephen Barclay is due to meet members of聽a new working group of Conservative MPs to find an alternative plan to avoid a post-Brexit hard Irish border.
The Alternative Arrangements Working Group (AAWG) is being supported by officials from several government departments and membership includes hardline Brexiteers and former ministers who voted Remain.
The first meeting will take place today, with further meetings planned for Tuesday and Wednesday, Downing Street said.
Brexiteers Steve Baker, Marcus Fysh and Owen Paterson will join forces with pro-EU Conservatives Damian Green and Nicky Morgan to form the AAWG.
They will examine the feasibility of the so-called Malthouse Compromise which recasts the backstop - a customs plan to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland if a free trade deal between the UK and EU is not reached - as a "free trade agreement-lite".
It courts Brexiteers with a promise to ditch the backstop, and appeals to pro-EU Tories by pledging safeguards against the risk of disruption if no exit deal can be agreed.
Drawn up in meetings co-ordinated by housing minister Kit Malthouse, it is seen as one of the main reasons the hardline eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) changed its mind and backed an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady in the House of Commons last Tuesday.
Prime Minister Theresa May told the Commons last week it was "a serious proposal that we are engaging with sincerely and positively".
ERG deputy leader Mr Baker, a former Brexit minister who quit last year in protest at the Chequers agreement, said on Sunday: "After a positive conference call today running through the government's questions, I'm more confident than ever we can land the Malthouse Compromise.
"I hope our meetings with government are as constructive as they should be because Malthouse is the only game in town if we are to achieve a deal.
"I just hope engagement is as sincere as the PM's words at the despatch box led us to expect."
Downing Street said Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was also looking into the legal changes Britain is aiming to secure to the backstop, with ideas including a unilateral exit mechanism, or a time limit.
Justice Secretary David Gauke said he was "pleased" to see colleagues "engaging very constructively" because "this is an area where there is a need for compromise".
He told Sky News: "Very few people will get their first or second choice in this process, but it is important that we avoid a no-deal Brexit, which I think would be very bad for the country."
Last week, MPs voted to support Mrs May's Brexit deal if she could agree "alternative arrangements" to replace the backstop.
However, the EU has so far ruled out reopening the exit deal to make any changes to the backstop.
Meanwhile, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson accused the party leadership of using reports of a June general election, which appeared in Sunday newspapers, as a "scare tactic" to get Conservative MPs into backing her withdrawal agreement.
He used his Telegraph column on Monday to suggest that if someone in Tory HQ thought a summer election was a good idea they should be "dispatched on secondment to Venezuela or Zimbabwe or somewhere they can do less damage".