‘This is what the EU does – no deal until the last moment’: May plays hardball with the EU and will not fly to Europe until next week as Juncker flatly dismisses her new plan
Theresa May played hardball with the EU today as she put off travelling to Brussels until next week after Jean-Claude Juncker insisted the Brexit deal was the ‘best possible’ and could not be renegotiated.
Cabinet ministers dismissed the EU’s scramble to reject Mrs May’s demands on Brexit today as ‘just what the EU does’.
European Commission president Mr Juncker and negotiator Michel Barnier led the ‘noise’ from Europe and warned last night’s showdown votes in the Commons ‘do not change’ the divorce terms.
British ministers stayed cool in the face of the rush to condemn last night’s showdown votes in Parliament that handed Mrs May a mandate to renegotiate the backstop plan for the Irish border.
They told MailOnline the EU ‘never makes any kind of deal until the last moment’ and today’s ‘blank denials’ were just ‘noise’.
In response, the Prime Minister is expected to hold off face-to-face talks for days as she undertakes a frantic round of phone diplomacy.
Senior government sources told MailOnline Mrs May still has meetings booked in Whitehall tomorrow, and is due to be in her constituency on Friday.
The waiting tactic emerged as ministers ramped up tensions with the EU in the wake of her Commons victory – warning that the £39billion divorce bill could be axed if it does not compromise.
Speaking in Brussels today, Mr Juncker described the Agreement reached after 18 months of negotiation last November as ‘the best and only deal possible’.
And he told MEPs in the European Parliament: ‘The debate and votes in the House of Commons yesterday do not change that.
‘The Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated.’
Cabinet ministers dismissed the EU’s scramble to reject Theresa May’s demands on Brexit today as ‘just what the EU does’. Pictured are EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels today
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