Theresa May admits Brexit could be delayed AGAIN leaving Britain tied to the EU until the end of 2021 or even longer
THERESA May has admitted Brexit could be delayed once again leaving Britain tied to the EU until the end of 2021 or even longer.
In an attempt to head off a row with the Brexit Secretary David Davis, the Prime Minister agreed to put a date on when the Irish border "back-stop" plan will end.
This means that unless an agreement is made on fixing how trade would be monitored between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the UK would be tied to Brussels rules on trade until December 2021 - effectively delaying Brexit once more.
Our exit had already been pushed back until the end of 2020, after a so-called "transition period" was put in place in order to give negotiators a longer time-frame to agree a long-term trade deal.
And the document which outlines the fall-back option, published this lunchtime, said the Government only "expects" to be finally un-entangled from EU rule by December 2021.
This wording - which has been labelled a "fudge" by MPs - means it could be even longer before we truly strike out on our own.
The announcement was made this morning after the PM held a crunch meeting with Mr Davis, as well as seeing other senior Euroscpetic ministers Boris Johnson and Liam Fox this morning.
She had wanted to avoid a Cabinet split, after Brexiteers were unhappy the "back-stop" option did not have an official end point.
Mr Davis had been rumoured to be close to quitting over the issue unless the document was amended, which the PM did, suggesting she blinked first.
The document itself was causing consternation, which Eurosceptics said would put Britain “in purgatory”.
With the ongoing wrangle about what type of long-term customs agreement the UK wants after Brexit seemingly set to continue, the fall-back position is becoming more likely to be required.
What is the so-called 'back-stop' solution to the Irish border issue and why is it controversial?
THE ROW over the “back-stop” solution has threatened to split Theresa May’s Cabinet this week.
The reason it is so controversial is that Brexiteers were worried it would secretly keep Britain inside the EU’s trade rules indefinitely.
So what is it?
When the UK exits the EU, it will need a new agreement on goods travelling from Northern Ireland and the Republic.
So far Britain and Brussels have failed to agree on any sort of permanent deal, so in order to break the deadlock Mrs May agreed to a fall-back option in case one cannot be found by the time we exit the bloc.
Known as the “back-stop”, it would come into force after the transition period ends in December 2020 if there's no deal.
It would mean the UK would keep existing trade rules, and prevent border posts being set up and trade grinding to a halt.
But its original form did not have a fixed end point for the plan to finish, leading to fears it would end up being a permanent solution.
This would prevent the UK from signing trade deals with other countries outside the EU, which Brexiteers say would render the vote to leave pointless.
It has now been amended, saying the UK 'expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest'.
That would already mean delaying our effective Brexit date until more than five years after the EU referendum, and the wording leaves the potential for it to last even longer.
However without a fixed end date Brexiteers were worried it would lead to a “Hotel California Brexit” where we would never really leave Brussels control.
A senior Tory had warned Mrs May she could not afford to lose him.
Former Brexit minister David Jones told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We need to make sure that David Davis stays at the negotiating table.
“Anything that caused him to leave would be deeply regrettable and deeply damaging to the country."
The Sun had revealed last night the 69-year-old ex-SAS reservist told friends he will stay and fight the “people trying to box me in”, and today it appears he has agreed to stay on.
This morning Mrs May’s former chief of staff Nick Timothy said his old boss had made a “mistake” in agreeing to a customs backstop at all.
He warned a “Brexit summer crisis” now looms after she agreed to the EU's interim backstop plan in March to try and break the deadlock in the Brexit negotiations.
After today’s crunch meetings things don’t get any easier for the PM, as she will fly out tonight to Canada for the G7 meetings and a showdown with Donald Trump over his steel tariffs and the looming trade war.