EU chiefs are choosing not to give the PM what she needs to sell her deal to the DUP
Our power to exit the Irish backstop has to be legally binding — and approved by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox
Now EU decide
THE EU could give Theresa May what she needs to sell her deal to the DUP and her backbenchers. It chooses not to.
Why? Because forcing us into a second vote, or non-voting EU membership under “Norway Plus”, suits them better.
This is not just The Sun’s view. Former EU leaders are imploring their successors to see sense.
Ex-Commission President José Manuel Barroso says: “If there’s political will the excellent lawyers of the EU can find a creative solution for the backstop.
“It is crucial to avoid resentment. I hope the EU council understands it. There will be no third country more important than the UK.”
His predecessor Romano Prodi has also said the EU could give ground.
But it will take more than vague promises. Our power to exit the Irish backstop has to be legally binding — and approved by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
It seems vanishingly unlikely. But it’s the one thing that could yet see Mrs May’s deal rise like Lazarus from the dead.
Extreme peril
PHILIP Hammond’s “extremists” jibe at Brexit-supporting Tory backbenchers was reckless and stupid.
If anything is likely to hasten a catastrophic split in the Tories it’s the Chancellor of a minority Government declaring war on scores of his own MPs. But it also displayed staggering contempt for politicians committed to honouring the referendum and the election manifesto on which they stood.
Politics has been debased by charlatans making promises they dump as soon as it’s convenient. It is in a critical state if NOT doing so is “extreme”.
If there are extremists in Parliament besides the obvious, Corbyn and McDonnell, it is those playing roulette with national stability by attempting to stage a second referendum before the verdict of the first is carried out.
It is incredible that it is considered mainstream, noble even, of these MPs to renege on promises they made and votes they cast — and to refuse to honour the majority’s will because the losing minority must have their “final say”.
All while performing intellectual contortions to justify what, deep down, they know is unjustifiable: imposing their will over the public’s. That is a far more extreme position than anything on the Tory backbenches.
“Everyone knows who won,” says Benedict Cumberbatch in the trailer for Channel 4’s upcoming Brexit movie.
We do. Some MPs have forgotten.
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