UK must do more than say ‘we must have the backstop removed’, Simon Coveney says

Ireland’s deputy prime minister has said Boris Johnson has not proposed any credible replacement for the backstop, the stumbling block to a Brexit deal.

Simon Coveney, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister, said: “There is no country that wants a deal more than Ireland.”. But he said any agreement had to be credible, meaning it must avoid the return of a hard border and protect the EU single market.

Speaking to reporters in Helsinki, Coveney said: “At the moment nothing credible has come from the British government in the context of an alternative to the backstop. If that changes, great, we will look at it in Dublin, but more importantly it can be the basis of a discussion in Brussels.

EU ready to look at 'realistic' backstop plans from Johnson Read more

“But it has got to be credible. It can’t simply be this notion that ‘look, we must have the backstop removed and we will solve this problem in the future negotiation’ without any credible way of doing that.”

The backstop is an insurance plan to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and protect the all-Ireland economy. It would keep the UK in an EU customs area, until both sides agree on other arrangements. The backstop kicks in automatically, if EU and UK negotiators fail to come up with mutually acceptable alternatives during trade talks.

But Grant Shapps rejected Coveney’s claims that the government had failed to propose alternatives. The UK transport secretary told Sky News: “It’s just not true.”

He said: “We are putting forward alternatives. So it’s a cover when they keep saying ‘you are not putting forward ideas’ – we are putting forward ideas [on trusted trading schemes, for example].”

Quick guide What is the Brexit ‘backstop’? Show Hide What is the original ‘backstop’ in the withdrawal agreement? Variously described as an insurance policy or safety net, the backstop is a device in the withdrawal agreement intended to ensure that there will not be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, even if no formal deal can be reached on trade and security arrangements. It would mean that if there were no workable agreement on such matters, Northern Ireland would stay in the customs union and much of the single market, guaranteeing a friction-free border with the Republic. This would keep the Good Friday agreement intact. Both the UK and EU signed up to the basic idea in December 2017 as part of the initial Brexit deal, but there have been disagreements since on how it would work. The DUP have objected to it, as it potentially treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK, creating a customs divide in the Irish Sea, which is anathema to the unionist party. Hardline Tory Eurosceptics also object to it, as they perceive it to be a trap that could potentially lock the UK into the EU’s customs union permanently if the UK & EU cannot seal a free trade agreement. That would prevent the UK from doing its own free trade deals with nations outside the bloc. What was added to May’s withdrawal agreement? Joint interpretative instrument

A legal add-on to the withdrawal agreement was given to Theresa May in January 2019 to try to get her deal through the UK parliament. It gives legal force to a letter from Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, the presidents of the commission and council. This stated the EU’s intention to negotiate an alternative to the backstop so it would not be triggered, or, if it was triggered, to get out of it as quickly as possible. Unilateral statement from the UK This set out the British position that, if the backstop were to become permanent and talks on an alternative were going nowhere, the UK believes it would be able to exit the arrangement. Additional language in political declaration This emphasises the urgency felt on both sides to negotiate an alternative to the backstop, and flesh out what a technological fix would look like. However, it failed to persuade the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, who said that while it ‘reduces the risk’ of the UK being trapped in a backstop indefinitely, it does not remove it. What happens next? Boris Johnson declared the Northern Ireland backstop ‘dead’ during his leadership campaign, and promised to throw it out of any deal he renegotiated with the EU. The EU has repeatedly stated that it will not reopen the withdrawal agreement for renegotiation. Daniel Boffey, Martin Belam and Peter Walker

An EU diplomat told the Guardian that Johnson’s Brexit envoy, David Frost, brought no new ideas to the table when he held meetings in Brussels earlier this week.

The government announced on Thursday night that Frost would be meeting EU officials twice a week, from next week, as Johnson declared it was “now time for both sides to step up the tempo”.

Coveney said: “I am sure that if he wanted five days of negotiations a week then the EU would be OK with that. Michel Barnier is there as the chief negotiator for that purpose.”

With Brexit scheduled for just over two months’ time, the EU has called on the UK government to outline its ideas for the Irish backstop as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Dominic Raab has described the government’s plans to suspend parliament as “perfectly lawful” and “perfectly proper”. Speaking to reporters, he said: “The idea this is some kind of constitutional outrage is nonsense.” The foreign secretary is attending a meeting with his EU counterparts in Helsinki.