Page dismissed a letter from Mr Johnson
demanding that the backstop is
replaced. Mr Tusk, who chairs
meetings of EU leaders, tweeted:
‘The backstop is an insurance to
avoid a hard border on the island of
Ireland unless and until an alterna-
tive is found.
‘Those against the backstop and
not proposing realistic alternatives
in fact support re-establishing a
border. Even if they do not admit
it.’ Mrs Merkel said that she was
open to finding ‘practical solutions’
to the Irish border issue, butis that if you look at what the UK
Government was doing, it was basi-
cally reconciled psychologically,
emotionally, intellectually to
remaining within in the customs
union and orbit of EU law... within
the empire of EU legislation.
‘What we are saying is there are
lots of ways you can continue to
have frictionless trade, free move-
ment of goods and people across
the border in Northern Ireland and
at other EU/ UK borders whilst
simultaneously allowing the UK to
come out of the EU.’
He added: ‘I’m going to go of
course and see if I can explore those
ideas with our friends in Germany
and France and at the G7 – let’s see
where we get to. It may be that for
now, they stick with the mantra, rien
ne va plus, and they can’t change a
jot or a tittle of the Withdrawal
Agreement... Let’s see how long they
stick to that, I think there are plenty
of other creative solutions.’
Mr Johnson said that it was ‘a
bit paradoxical’ that the EU side
was talking about reintroducing
checks on the Irish border when
the UK had ‘made it clear 1,
times’ that British officials would
not do the same. Leo Varadkar,
the Irish prime minister, has often
stressed that the re-emergence of
a hard border could lead to a
return to Troubles-era violence.
Comment – Page 16Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019
QQQSHOWDOWN
Liz Truss was talking trade with Japan yesterday and
posted a picture online to prove it – but many view-
ing found their eyes straying to the minister’s
espresso machine and her background dog snap.UK will pull out
of EU meetings
in just 10 days
BRITISH officials will stop
attending EU meetings from
next month, the Brexit Sec-
retary announced last night.
In a clear sign that the Govern-
ment is determined to fulfil
Boris Johnson’s ‘do or die’
pledge to leave on October 31,
Steve Barclay said the UK would
only attend meetings of ‘signifi-
cant national interest’.
The move will ‘unshackle’ offi-
cials and ministers so they can
focus on ‘pioneering new trade
deals’, promoting a ‘truly Global
Britain’, he said.
It came as the Government
continued its efforts to ‘turbo-
charge’ No Deal preparations,
with ports and gateways to the
UK handed £9million to prepare
for Brexit and a scheme to auto-
matically enrol companies in agiven £2.6million to keep the
Port of Dover and Eurotunnel
running smoothly.
The extra funding follows a
£20million funding boost earlier
this month for councils to ramp
up preparations by appointing a
Brexit lead officer.
Local Government Secretary
Robert Jenrick said: ‘From
keeping our supply chains run-
ning and ensuring goods con-
tinue to flow into the country, to
putting robust plans in place for
every community, local govern-
ment is playing a vital role in
preparing the country to leavethe EU on October 31.’ Mean-
while, around 90,000 VAT-regis-
tered companies will be allo-
cated identification numbers so
they can keep trading with the
EU after the UK has left.
Ministers are fighting off fears
Britain is not ready for a No Deal
departure after leaked docu-
ments revealed Whitehall was
braced for a three-month melt-
down. Last night the BBC
reported details of ramped up
contingency planning by coun-
cils, with warnings over the
future of the UK’s fuel refineries.By Larisa Brown
and Tom Witherow‘Pioneering new
trade deals’
yesterday shared this snap on Instagram, reading in a hammock
LABOUR’S Diane Abbott yesterday said she would
back Remain in a second Brexit referendum –
even if Labour negotiated a fresh deal.
The Shadow Home Secretary joined Shadow
Chancellor John McDonnell in saying she would
fight to stay in the European Union at all costs.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I
think Remain is the best option for the country
and my constituents.’ Miss Abbott also said itwould be impossible for Jeremy Corbyn to
remain neutral in a second referendum.
The Labour leader has committed to a second
vote, but has only said he will back Remain to
stop a ‘damaging Tory Brexit’ deal.
When asked to clarify his position Mr Corbyn
would only comment: ‘Between No Deal and
Remain, I’ll argue for Remain.’
Comment – Page 16Abbott vows to vote Remain
PS
‘Get rid of it, have a
backstop-ectomy’insisted the EU would remain
united in its refusal to re-open the
Brexit deal and axe the backstop.
But Mr Johnson last night retali-
ated, telling ITV News: ‘The par-
ticular problem is the backstop
and all we are saying to our friends
and partners is it is time to remove
that backstop.
‘Get rid of it, have a total back-
stop-ectomy and I think then we
can make progress and I’m very
optimistic if we can do that we can
[get] the deal we want.’
Asked if his predecessor had failed
to make the case convincingly to
remove the backstop, he replied:
‘Yes. Absolutely. What I am sayingcustoms system unveiled. Mr
Barclay said: ‘An incredible
amount of time and effort goes
into EU meetings.
‘From now on we will only go to
the meetings that really matter,
reducing attendance by over half
and saving hundreds of hours.
This will free up time for minis-
ters and their officials to get on
with preparing for our departure
on 31 October and seizing the
opportunities that lie ahead.’
However, Liberal Democrat
Brexit spokesman Tom Brake
described it as a ‘petulant move’,
that showed that the Govern-
ment is ‘not serious about con-
structively engaging with our
EU partners’.
Meanwhile, it was announced
last night that local authorities
will be handed another £9million
to prepare for Brexit, with Kent