Brexit : Theresa May's Brexit Chequers plans "will not work" says Tusk. Major blow up.

[OnDoutside]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnmQn6_VAAAF0xM?format=jpg

Robert Peston
@Peston
When was there last a diplomatic and negotiating humiliation for the UK quite like
@theresa_may’s Salzburg debacle?


Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council: "We confirmed there will be no Withdrawal Agreement without a solid, operational, legally binding backstop [for Irish border]"

The spin from Downing Street had been that Theresa May’s meeting with her Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, shortly after breakfast in the margins of an EU summit in Austria, had been “relatively warm”, albeit “frank”. The dawning truth later that evening was that, in a premiership littered with missteps, May had made one of her worst errors of judgment as the two leaders and their teams met in a private room in Salzburg’s Mozarteum University.

For weeks the working assumption in Brussels had been that, on the Irish issue at least, a major step forward would be made by the next leaders’ summit in October. But over the coffee the prime minister dropped a bombshell. She did not believe it would be possible for the British government and Brussels to come to a solution by then. Six months after promising to come up with a fix that would avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland in all possible circumstances, the British appeared to be stalling for time again.

The message reverberated around the Salzburg summit and reached the ear of the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

The intention had been that this would be a good summit for the prime minister, giving her something to work with on the eve of a difficult Conservative party conference. “Things didn’t happen as we expected,” an EU official admitted.

The French president ripped up the plan to offer Theresa May warm words along with an extraordinary Brexit summit on 17 and 18 November in order to finalise the terms of a Brexit deal. During a two-hour Brexit discussion over lunch among the EU27 heads of state and government, Macron told his fellow leaders that the prime minister should not be allowed to drag her heels. The pressure for a result needed to be increased.

May was to be set a threshold that she would have to reach if she wanted a deal. The EU’s leaders were instructed to increase their preparations for a no-deal Brexit. Viktor Orbán, the populist Hungarian prime minister, who had bowed and kissed May’s hand the previous evening before dinner, and boasted to reporters on Thursday of being part of a growing camp of leaders opposed to “punishing the British”, did not demur. “He did not say a word,” said a source.

After informing May of the developments in a brief and cursory meeting, Donald Tusk, the European council president, who did not appear happy in his task, informed reporters at a press conference at the end of the day: “The moment of truth for Brexit negotiations will be the October European council. In October we expect maximum progress and results in the Brexit talks. Then we will decide whether conditions are there to call an extraordinary summit in November to finalise and formalise the deal.”

[Kurt V.]

1. why don't they just vote again on brexit?

[OnDoutside]

2. I think that is what will ultimately happen, but it had to have been a slow walk or it would get

people even more annoyed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It's not at all certain a new vote would reverse the decision yet

results of polls here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Post%E2%80%93referendum_polling (check who was polled for each result - many are "16-24 year olds", "London" etc.). While there's a fairly steady "would have been better if we'd remained" lead, it's only 4% or so, and the 'undecideds' are bigger than the margin. The same goes for "how would you vote?" polls.

[Kurt V.]

4. i had no idea it was that close.

thanks for the info