A group of Brexit-supporting lawmakers who rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May's European Union exit deal in January have set out the changes they want to see to her agreement in return for their support. With Britain due to leave the bloc on March 29, May is seeking assurances on the so-called backstop arrangement aimed at preventing a return to hard border controls between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland.
Concerns over the backstop led to parliament overwhelmingly rejecting May's deal in January, with critics saying it could leave the country tied to EU rules indefinitely. The Sunday Times said a group including former Brexit minister Dominic Raab and Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the Northern Irish party which props up May's minority government, had drawn up the tests by which they would assess any changes.
"The mechanism has got to be legally binding, so effectively treaty-level change," one of the group, Conservative lawmaker Michael Tomlinson, said in an interview with the newspaper. "The second part is the language. It can't be a reinterpretation of the withdrawal agreement or a re-emphasis; it's got to be really clear language as to where we are going.
The third requirement is a clear exit route." It comes after Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of a pro-Brexit faction in May's Conservatives which set up the group, this week scaled back his opposition to her deal saying he would no longer insist that the backstop be removed.
If May secures the demands, she would win the backing of Northern Ireland's DUP and many Brexit-supporting lawmakers in a vote on the deal promised by March 12, the Times said. The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday that the bloc was ready to give Britain more guarantees that the backstop was only intended to be temporary and used for a "worst-case scenario".
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