May receives Cabinet backing before crucial EU meeting

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday secured the backing of her Cabinet a day before one of the most crucial Brexit meetings with the EU leaders.

“If we as a government stand together and stand firm we can achieve this,” May reportedly told her Cabinet in a lengthy meeting.

“The cabinet strongly supported the prime minister over the importance of maintaining the integrity of the union,” a government spokesperson said in a briefing that followed the meeting.

“The cabinet also agreed that we must be able to ensure that we cannot be kept in the backstop arrangement indefinitely,” according to the statement.

May said there will be challenging moments ahead and that is in the nature of negotiations.

She said it is not possible for her or any U.K. prime minister to sign up to an agreement that would lead to a customs border down the Irish Sea.

May also said that they need to ensure that they do not have a situation where the U.K. can be kept indefinitely in the backstop against its will.

The Cabinet meeting came amidst calls for resignations of some members from backbenchers, including former Brexit secretary David Davis, who believes a Brexit people voted in the referendum in 2016 could not be delivered by May’s government.

May will address the EU leaders to make a short presentation over her latest plans and to request to unblock an impasse in negotiations over the backstop – an option to avoid a hard border in the island of Ireland by aligning Northern Ireland with EU customs union and market.

The U.K. is set to leave the bloc in March 2019 but a transition period, which will keep the trade between the sides as it is until the end of 2020 has been principally agreed.

The U.K., the EU, Ireland and Northern Ireland have said they do not want to see a return to a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The meeting with the EU leaders will take place on Wednesday in Brussels and any progress is expected to pave the way for an emergency Brexit summit in November.