May launches fresh diplomatic blitz on EU leaders as No10 admits she STILL hasn’t managed to get concessions

Theresa May has launched a fresh diplomatic blitz on EU leaders – as No10 admitted she still has not managed to get concessions to help sell her Brexit deal to MPs.

The PM has been ringing round counterparts as she tries to obtain ‘legally binding’ assurances that the UK will not be stuck in the Irish border backstop.

The frantic New Year push comes with just over a fortnight to go until the Commons is due to hold a crunch vote on the package thrashed out with Brussels.

he EU has flatly dismissed the idea of reopening the Withdrawal Agreement painstakingly put together over two years of negotiations.

The bloc also insists there cannot be a time limit on the backstop – although both sides say it should be temporary and fall away once a wider trade pact is sealed.

However, senior Cabinet ministers are understood to be convinced that they will get movement from the EU that could win round enough MPs.  

Under the backstop arrangements, the whole UK would stay in a customs union with the EU to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland – while Northern Ireland would obey some single market rules. 

Brexiteers have condemned the proposals as they could restrict the UK’s ability to do trade deals elsewhere.

And the DUP, which is propping up Mrs May in power, has voiced fury that it would leave Northern Ireland operating under different rules to the rest of the UK.