Oomph: what to expect from Boris’s talks with EU leaders

Boris Johnson is to tell Angela Merkel today that Parliament cannot prevent the UK leaving the EU on 31 October.

The Prime Minister is heading to Berlin to appeal to Merkel to accept a deal with the Irish backstop scrapped.

But the EU has consistently rebuffed suggestions that any deal could be struck that didn’t include the backstop.

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Johnson told Sky News last night: “I’m going to go at it with a lot of oomph as you’d expect, and I hope we’ll be making some progress in the course of the next few weeks.

“But clearly, one thing that slightly I think complicates the picture is that our EU friends still clearly think that there is a possibility that Parliament will block Brexit.

“As long as they think there is a possibility that Parliament will block Brexit they are unlikely to make the concessions that we need.”

Johnson will warn the German Chancellor that opposition MPs and Tory rebels do not have the power to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

This meetings follow Johnson’s one-hour Monday night call with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who highlighted the possibility that Tory MPs could stop a no-deal Brexit, reports The Times.

No. 10 thinks that EU leaders won’t consider scrapping the backstop while they believe there is still a chance UK parliamentarians could stop no-deal.

Florian Hahn, European policy spokesperson for Germany’s CDU, said: “It is completely impossible that the backstop will be removed from the agreement or softened … Boris Johnson wants to smash his head through the wall. But the wall is thicker than he thinks.”

On Thursday, Johnson will travel to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, before the G7 summit in Biarritz this weekend.

What does Johnson want?

The Prime Minister has written to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, demanding the scrapping of the “anti-democratic” Irish backstop as a condition of any deal with Brussels.

He called the backstop “inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK as a state” and claimed that it locked the UK in a customs union with the EU.

But on Monday night, Brussels sources reiterated that the withdrawal agreement - including the backstop - could not be renegotiated: “The withdrawal agreement is not open for renegotiation and the backstop is not open for change. A legally operable backstop to avoid a hard border remains central to the withdrawal agreement for the EU27,” a “well-informed source” told The Guardian.

Tory MP Alberto Costa, who is campaigning to protect EU citizens’ rights, told Newsnight that he thought Johnson’s letter was a precursor to him bringing back a “rehashed version of Theresa May’s deal” that the Prime Minister could get through the Commons with the help of some Labour MPs.

But Johnson has insisted he is prepared to force a no-deal Brexit: “We will be ready to come out on October 31, deal or no deal,” he said during a visit to Cornwall on Monday.

The Government has said that British officials will no longer attend EU meetings from 1 September and will instead dedicate their time to no-deal preparations. They will attend only meetings of “significant national interest” reports the BBC.

What do Merkel and Macron want?

Merkel and Macron strongly advocate for the EU position that the backstop must be part of any Brexit deal.

The backstop is a position of last resort to be implemented if permanent trading arrangements are not agreed with the European Union during the 21-month transition period after Brexit day. The aim is to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland, with few restrictions for goods and services crossing the frontier between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

They are also holding on to the hope that anti-no-deal MPs will block Johnson’s attempts to leave the European Union without a Brexit deal on 31 October.

Donald Tusk said opposing the backstop without “realistic alternatives” supported re-establishing a hard border, reports the BBC. Johnson’s letter did not offer a “legally operational solution” to the Irish border issue, he added.

What will they get?

The EU has never wavered in its insistence that the backstop must be part of any deal with the UK.

Tony Lloyd, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said: “Boris Johnson seems to have forgotten that he voted for Theresa May’s deal including the backstop.

“Whichever Brexit outcome he pursues, whether it’s a disastrous no deal or this fantasyland wish list, Boris Johnson clearly has no qualms about putting jobs, rights, prosperity or peace in Northern Ireland at risk,” he added.

US President Donald Trump has lent his diplomatic expertise to the situation. The Daily Mail reports him saying that “dealing with the European Union is very difficult, they drive a hard bargain.

“They are represented by Jean-Claude Juncker, who is a friend of mine, but he’s a tough man. He’s a very, very tough man and he’s a great negotiator.”

“I think that the UK has the right man in charge right now, the right person in charge in the form of Boris.”