Theresa May's mini-tour ends in failure as EU insist Brexit negotiations are over

European leaders have sent Theresa May back to London empty handed after the Prime Minister visited three EU capitals in a day seeking reassurances that could help save her Brexit deal.

By The Newsroom Tuesday, 11th December 2018, 7:52 pm Updated Tuesday, 11th December 2018, 8:50 pm

Angela Merkel with Theresa May. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Mrs May was told the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated to ease fears over the Irish border backstop, and now faces a fresh coup attempt by Brexiteers in her own party.

One Conservative MP told ministers that the Prime Minister’s decision to postpone a vote on her Brexit deal was “contemptible” and claimed she had “reached the cliff edge of resignation”.

Sign up to our daily newsletter The i newsletter cut through the noise Sign up Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting...

Meanwhile, the French government announced it was stepping up its preparations and bringing forward new legislation for a no-deal Brexit.

Following talks with the Prime Minister in Brussels last night, European Council President Donald Tusk said the pair had a “long and frank discussion” but offered little hope of significant movement.

“Clear that EU27 wants to help,” Mr Tusk tweeted. “The question is how.”

Mrs May also met EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who earlier in the day said the proposed Brexit deal was the “best deal possible” with “no room whatsoever for renegotiation”.

Addressing MEPs, Mr Juncker said: “Of course there is room if used intelligently, there is room enough to give further clarifications and further interpretations without opening the Withdrawal Agreement.

“This will not happen: everyone has to note that the Withdrawal Agreement will not be reopened.”

He said Brexit would a “surprise guest” at a European Council summit later this week, adding: “I’m surprised because we had reached an agreement on the 25th November together with the Government of the United Kingdom.

“Notwithstanding that, it would appear that there are problems right at the end of the road.”

Mrs May began the day in The Hague, meeting the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and also visited Berlin to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as her successor, the new leader of the ruling CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Following their meeting, Mrs Merkel said: “We said that there will be no further opening of the exit deal.”

The Prime Minister spoke by phone with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday afternoon, and will travel to Dublin for talks on Brexit with Taioseach Leo Varadkar following a rescheduled cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Varadkar repeated his government’s commitment to the backstop and the Withdrawal Agreement yesterday.

Other European government ruled out significant concessions, with Greece’s Europe minister George Katrougkalos saying “the ball is in the UK’s court”, and France’s Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau warning the EU was preparing for a no-deal Brexit.

“We’re very much concerned about postponement of the vote,” Ms Loiseau said. “We’ve done a lot to help UK. This is only possible agreement and we’ve done a lot of concessions to reach it. We have to stand ready for a no deal and we’re preparing for it.”

Mr May brushed aside speculation of an impending leadership challenge amid reports that more letters expressing no-confidence have been lodged by Conservative MPs.

“I have been here in Europe dealing with the issue I have promised Parliament I would be dealing with,” the Prime Minister said.

“Whatever outcome we want, whatever relationship we want with the European Union in future, there is no deal available that doesn’t have a backstop within it.

“But we don’t want the backstop to be used and if it is want to be certain it is only temporary.

“It is those assurances that I will be seeking from fellow leaders over the coming days.

“I have seen a shared determination to deal with this issue.”

Sir Bill Cash, a staunch Brexiteer, dismissed Mrs May’s last ditch attempt to get concessions from the EU in “secret room” deals.

He said: “The Prime Minister has now reached the cliff edge of resignation, I believe that she may well have to resign... she is clinging to the wreckage, she has reached the point of no return.”

Tory Brexiteer Nadine Dorries later likened Mrs May to Adolf Hitler in his bunker at the end of the Second World War.