This is a subscriber-only article
The likelihood of key votes on Brexit passing through the current UK parliament has been questioned by the vice-president of the European Parliament.
Reacting to Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation on Friday, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness said that the current impasse on Brexit was a result of internal issues within the UK Conservative Party.
Concern
“My concern when I’m listening to events unfolding is will the next prime minster, he or she, fair any differently in the House of Commons when it comes to a vote?” she told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One on Friday.
McGuinness was questioned on the possibility of the EU re-opening negotiations on the withdrawal agreement when Theresa May’s successor is appointed.
“I think the European Union has been very clear that, once we agreed the withdrawal agreement in good faith with the British prime minister, the deal was done. I think there has been great consistency around that point,” she responded.
Backstop
The Midlands-Northwest MEP also played down calls from some Brexiteers that the insurance policy to prevent a hard border in Ireland, known as the backstop, should be removed from the withdrawal agreement.
Conservative MP and former Brexit secretary David Davis is one such politician calling for the backstop to be removed.
“It is rather simplistic, but it is very alarming that he holds that view. I did have conversations [with Davis] when he was in the role of negotiator, which led me to have concerns about his knowledge, and indeed concern, about Northern Ireland,” McGuinness said.
SHARING OPTIONS: