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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he will not be negotiating Brexit when he meets Theresa May for dinner in Dublin this evening.<\/p>\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he will not be negotiating Brexit when he meets Theresa May for dinner in Dublin this evening.<\/p>\n
After holding talks in Brussels yesterday, the British Prime Minister was flying to Dublin in an effort to resolve the dispute over the Irish backstop, which remains the main stumbling block to an agreement.<\/p>\n
She will be joined for the private dinner at official state guesthouse Farmleigh House by the UK\u2019s Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins and her chief of staff Gavin Barwell.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said while the meal presented an opportunity to \u201cshare perspectives\u201d on Brexit, actual negotiations \u201ccan only be between the European Union and the United Kingdom\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a visit to Belfast for talks with Northern Irish parties, the Taoiseach said: \u201cI think everybody wants to avoid no-deal, everybody wants to avoid a hard border and everybody wants to continue to have a very close political and economic relationship between Britain and Ireland no matter want happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is much more that unites us than divides us and time is running short, and we need to get to an agreement really as soon as possible, and I\u2019ll be working very hard and redoubling my efforts, along with government, to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI believe ultimately we are going to have to get this deal over the line and I am determined to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Downing Street said Mrs May would be \u201cemphasizing what we are looking for, seeking the legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that Parliament said it needs to approve the deal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Attorney General Seamus Woulfe held talks in Dublin with his British counterpart, Geoffrey Cox.<\/p>\n
Mr Cox has been leading work within Whitehall on providing either a time limit on the backstop or giving the UK an exit mechanism from it.<\/p>\n
Both proposals have received a dusty response from Dublin, which insists the backstop cannot be time-limited if it is to provide an effective \u201cinsurance policy\u201d against the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.<\/p>\n
Mrs May, however, has warned she needs legally binding assurances the UK will not be tied to EU rules indefinitely through the backstop if she is to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay will hold talks with the EU\u2019s chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mrs May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker have agreed to meet again before the end of the month to take stock of the situation.<\/p>\n
Mr Barnier said he was \u201clooking forward\u201d to the meeting in Brussels but restated the EU\u2019s position that the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will listen to how the UK sees the way through,\u201d the EU negotiator said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. But I will reaffirm our openness to rework the Political Declaration in full respect of European Council guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Downing Street has said ministers are looking \u201cwith interest\u201d at a letter from Jeremy Corbyn setting out the terms on which Labour would support a deal in Parliament.<\/p>\n
The move provoked a furious outcry from Labour Remainers \u2013 who fear the plan effectively kills off their hopes of the party backing a second referendum \u2013 with warnings from some MPs they could quit the party altogether.<\/p>\n
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mrs May had to accept his party\u2019s proposals were the only way of getting a Brexit deal through Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe a deal like this, put before Parliament again, could secure a majority and what you\u2019re seeing here is, yes, Parliament asserting control, and the Prime Minister has to accept that the only way she\u2019ll get something through Parliament is a compromise like this,\u201d he told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today program.<\/p>\n
Mr McDonnell said the British Prime Minister would have a \u201csecure\u201d parliamentary majority if she backed the plans, which he described as a \u201ctraditional British compromise\u201d, but said a second referendum was still on the table if an agreement could not be reached.<\/p>\n
Number 10 sources acknowledged there were still \u201cvery considerable points of difference\u201d with Labour over the blueprint \u2013 which includes a customs union with the EU, something the British Prime Minister has repeatedly ruled out.<\/p>\n
They may hope the threat Parliament could swing behind a \u201csofter\u201d Norway-style Brexit if there is no agreement on Mrs May\u2019s deal will convince some Tory Brexiteer rebels to fall into line behind her plan.<\/p>\n
It comes as the Financial Times reported a secret group at the heart of Whitehall has been working on emergency plans to kick-start the economy in the event of a no-deal Brexit.<\/p>\n
The Project After group is said to have been put together by the Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service Sir Mark Sedwill, with senior figures from the Treasury, Cabinet Office, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for International Trade.<\/p>\n
The options said to have been considered by the group \u2013 which has been working since the summer and is in close contact with the Bank of England \u2013 range from cutting taxes and boosting investment to slashing tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s basically a Doomsday list of economic levers we could pull if the economy is about to tank,\u201d one Whitehall source is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n