Boris Johnson believes that Brussels will cave in and offer a new Brexit deal at the last moment because Ireland will be damaged by a no-deal divorce, according to reports.
A cabinet minister told The Sun: “The EU will give us a better deal, because if they don’t Ireland is f*****. No deal will destroy it. No deal hurts us, the EU and Ireland - but it hurts Ireland the most.”
The minister reportedly added that Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, had “overplayed his hand” on Brexit and was now “in deep trouble”.
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Britain and the EU are currently in deadlock over the Irish border backstop. The prime minister is adamant he will not agree to a deal which includes the measure but the EU is equally insistent that the current divorce deal cannot be reopened and the backstop is non-negotiable.
But, says the Daily Mail, many in the government are “increasingly confident” that Johnson's pledge to deliver Brexit with or without a deal by 31 October has “hit home hard in Brussels”.
To press the attack, Johnson is reportedly planning a whirlwind trip to Paris and Berlin in the next fortnight to lay out his Brexit demands in person to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Deal or no deal?
The prime minister received another boost yesterday when Lord Wolfson, the chief executive of the clothing chain Next, said the UK can avoid gridlock and chaos in the event of a no-deal Brexit because Johnson’s government has stepped up preparations.
The prominent Vote Leave supporter told the BBC: “We are a long way from gridlock and chaos; the fact that HMRC have introduced these transition measures will make an enormous difference.
“The encouraging thing is that we are rapidly moving from the gridlock and chaos camp into the well-prepared camp. I should stress that I would much prefer a deal to no deal, but I am much less frightened of no deal if the government is well prepared, and we’ve got every indication that they are now taking that seriously.”
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