May’s wriggle room in Brexit negotiations narrows further

British prime minister Theresa May's room for manoeuvre in Brexit negotiations has narrowed further with warnings from Brexiteers and Remainers within her party against compromises on the Northern Ireland backstop.

Hours before Brexit secretary Dominic Raab flew to Brussels to tell Michel Barnier he could not agree to a deal on the withdrawal agreement, his predecessor David Davis urged a cabinet insurrection over the prime minister’s strategy. Brexiteers inside and outside cabinet have insisted that a backstop that keeps the whole UK inside a customs union with the European Union must have a time limit.

Meanwhile, Scottish secretary David Mundell and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson have warned Mrs May that they could not support a deal that would mean Northern Ireland diverging from the rest of the United Kingdom.

The BBC reported on Sunday that the two politicians, who campaigned to remain in the EU in 2016, wrote to the prime minister last week.

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“Any deal that delivers a differentiated settlement for Northern Ireland beyond the differences that already exist on all Ireland basis (eg agriculture) or can be brought under the provisions of the Belfast Agreement, would undermine the integrity of our UK internal market and this United Kingdom,” the letter stated.

“We could not support any deal that creates a border of any kind in the Irish Sea and undermines the Union or leads to Northern Ireland having a different relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK, beyond what currently exists.”

The broadcaster reported that Mr Mundell and Ms Davidson, who both supported Mrs May’s Chequers plan, are willing to resign rather than accept what they see as a border in the Irish Sea. Scotland’s SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that a backstop that left Northern Ireland in the EU customs union with access to the single market would give Belfast an unfair competitive advantage over Glasgow.

Call to cabinet

Amid reports that several ministers would resign rather than support a backstop that would keep the UK in a customs union indefinitely, Mr Davis said it was time for the cabinet to assert itself against Mrs May.

"The cabinet committee that governs EU negotiations has barely met since July. Instead, the decisions seem to have been taken by an ad hoc group. Other cabinet members have been excluded from the decisions and, in some cases, even the briefings," he wrote in the Sunday Times. "This is one of the most fundamental decisions that government has taken in modern times. It is time for cabinet members to exert their collective authority. This week the authority of our constitution is on the line."

Health secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday downplayed the likelihood of cabinet resignations. He suggested that a customs arrangement under the backstop could be time-limited without having a specific date on which it must end.

“There are different ways to ensure that something is time limited,” he told the broadcaster. “For instance, you can set conditions under which – at the point at which – the arrangements come to an end.”