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Courtesy of the Times.
Britain will lose its say in future EU budget talks and trade deals as the price of another Brexit delay, Theresa May is to be told today. The prime minister will visit Angela Merkel in Berlin and President Macron in Paris today as she tries to avoid humiliation at an EU summit tomorrow. Mrs May wants another Brexit extension to June 30 but European leaders have started to spell out the price for agreeing to the delay.
They will insist that Britain does not block or disrupt EU decisions during an extension period that is likely to be much longer than Mrs May’s request — possibly to March 31 next year. Any such extension would be brought to an end if the withdrawal agreement were approved by MPs. The leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has called for London to be as “difficult as possible” during a long extension. This could include disrupting the next round of budget negotiations, Mr Macron’s plans for an EU army and other reforms. However, after speaking to Mrs May yesterday, Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said that agreement to another delay “hinges . . . on assurances from UK on sincere co-operation”. That assurance is expected to take the form of a letter that, in effect, commits the government always to vote with the majority of other member states. EU leaders will also make clear that it will not reopen talks on the withdrawal agreement during any extension even if Mrs May is replaced with a hardline Brexiteer.
“If there is a wild Brexiter as a new Tory PM, they would be able to do nothing until after March 31, 2020, unless they subscribe to the withdrawal agreement,” a senior EU official said. “We will simply not hold talks. If a new British leader refuses these terms it will simply be ‘no deal’ on the date with plenty of time for us to prepare.” In a sign of diminishing trust in the prime minister, the EU will also warn Mrs May that it will force Britain into a no-deal exit if she seeks to cancel elections to the European parliament on May 23. The EU fears that if the Tories are defeated heavily in local elections on May 2 then Mrs May will be pressured into cancelling the European vote three weeks later. “If the UK does not hold European parliament elections because of a big defeat then it is ‘no deal’. Britain will be out either at the end of next month or at the end of June,” the source said.
The prime minister’s hopes of presenting EU leaders with a cross-party Brexit compromise were also fading last night as talks with Labour stalled over the issue of the customs union. Jeremy Corbyn said that Mrs May had “not yet moved off her red lines so we can reach a compromise” at the end of a day in which talks were restricted to officials. Ministers will resume talks today but there appeared little chance of a compromise to be agreed in time for tomorrow’s special EU summit. The prime minister briefed cabinet ministers and senior Tory backbenchers in Downing Street yesterday. One senior figure said that Mrs May was aware of the consequences for her party of forcing through a Brexit deal on Labour votes but did not rule it out. Labour and EU leaders are seeking promises that also bind a Conservative successor, particularly a Brexiteer such as Boris Johnson.