Tánaiste: British MPs need to decide what they want from Brexit

MPs in Westminister must decide what they do want from Brexit instead of what they don’t if they are to avoid a hard Brexit, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Tánaiste: British MPs need to decide what they want from Brexit

MPs in Westminister must decide what they do want from Brexit instead of what they don’t if they are to avoid a hard Brexit, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Mr Coveney made the remarks at an event to mark World Down Syndrome Day in Cork, where he was asked if an extension to Article 50 is possible, given the EU will only grant it in the event of the UK parliament backing the Withdrawal Agreement.

However, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has ruled that British Prime Minister Theresa May cannot present the same question on the Withdrawal Agreement to Parliament for another vote given it has already been rejected by MPs.

“I think there are ways to get around the Speaker's concerns,” Mr Coveney said.

“There are a number of ways of doing that, the parliament could choose to vote to set aside that particular standing order, [or] because the European Council will be passing or endorsing the documents that were agreed in Strasbourg a couple of weeks ago, you could make the argument that by endorsing those documents, it is a new proposition next week, and there are other ways as well,” he said.

“But the real issue is, can the Prime Minister put a majority together to support the withdrawal agreement next week? The honest answer is we don't know yet,” Mr Coveney said.

“I think there will be a lot of manoeuvring and a lot of political discussion over the weekend.

"And what the European Council has said is that they recognize that even if the withdrawal agreement is ratified next week, there will be time needed to pass all the legislation linked to that.

“That's the context within which they're considering a short extension. If the British Parliament can't ratify anything next week, then I think there will probably be, or there may well be, an emergency council meeting next week, to try to forge a way forward.

“But I think the crisis and the division really is in Westminster, the European Union is very unified in terms of what they're trying to achieve, which is ratification for a balanced, fair deal that involves compromises all around. But unfortunately, the internal party divisions in Westminster, and the cross party divisions are deep.

“So far, we've only seen a majority in Westminster telling us what they don't want, rather than what they actually do want, and that has to change in the next seven days. So let's wait and see how that progresses.

“In the meantime, we will continue to prepare for a no deal, which will be a lose situation for everybody.

But we have been preparing for many months now, both from a legislative point of view, of a financial point of view, and obviously, preparing within government departments and government agencies working with different sectors of the Irish economy that would be very significantly impacted by a no deal, to try to make sure that we have a plan in place that can provide support through that disruption.

“But look, my job and the job of the Taoiseach is to try to find a way of ensuring that a no deal doesn't happen, and working through the collective EU negotiating team, which is through the Barnier task force,” Mr Coveney said.

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