Theresa May’s ‘lies’ to Parliament over risk of Northern Ireland being split from the UK exposed by Brexit legal documents
THERESA May was accused of lying to Parliament yesterday as documents proved her deal risks splitting Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK “indefinitely”.
Furious DUP MPs blasted the PM for “stabbing us in the back” as full legal advice from the Attorney General was revealed.
It showed Britain will have to be treated as a “third country” by the province under the post-Brexit backstop.
The DUP said confirmation that checks would be needed on goods crossing to and from Great Britain made a mockery of the PM’s vow to never accept a virtual border down the Irish Sea.
The six pages of legal advice also laid bare that the UK could be trapped in the backstop forever.
We would be bound by EU customs rules if a new free trade deal is not struck with Brussels.
The document was released after MPs found the Government in “contempt”.
In it, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox says: “Despite statements that it is not to be permanent . . . in international law the Protocol would endure indefinitely until a superseding agreement took its place.”
He adds: “The Protocol does not provide for a mechanism that is likely to enable the UK lawfully to exit the UK wide customs union . . . even if the parties are still negotiating many years later.”
DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branded the document “devastating”.
Saying it was no wonder the Government tried to hide it, he stormed: “For all the Prime Minister’s promises and pledges this legal advice is crystal clear. In her own words, no British Prime Minister could ever accept such a situation.”
Fellow DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said: “This isn’t a backstop, it’s a backstab.”
Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said the DUP would move against Mrs May in a no-confidence vote if her Brexit deal goes through.
The Unionists currently prop up her Government. But Mr Rees-Mogg said the DUP would back her if the Commons votes down her agreement.
Boris Johnson accused the EU of acting like a “predator”. He said it was now “finely balanced” as to whether the UK was better off remaining in the EU than leaving on the PM’s terms.
SNP chief Ian Blackford sparked uproar by accusing the PM of deliberately “misleading” the Commons.
The Speaker demanded an apology — only for Mr Blackford to say Mrs May had “perhaps inadvertently” been “concealing the facts”.
The backstop is designed to kick in at the end of the transition phase in December 2020 if the UK has not struck a trade deal with Brussels.
To avoid a hard border with Ireland the UK and EU would share a single customs territory. But the legal advice confirmed Northern Ireland will also have to align itself with 300 EU rules and standards — because of its physical border with the bloc in the Republic.
And because goods from the North will pass unchecked into the Republic, shipments from Britain will have to be checked here.
most read in politics
Mrs May has repeatedly promised the entire UK will leave the EU as one, and ruled out a border down the Irish Sea.
Eurosceptics said the revelations would make it even harder for the PM to win her meaningful vote next week.
She already faces a crushing defeat with 104 Tories vowing to oppose her deal. Former Tory Chief Whip Mark Harper said: “We’ve gone back on important manifesto commitments.”
Ex-Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said Tory MPs were livid.
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]