May’s 11th-hour bid to break Brexit deadlock: Prime Minister to offer a ‘double lock’ on her deal in last-ditch bid

Theresa May is set to offer MPs a ‘double lock’ on her Brexit deal in a last-ditch bid to reassure them the UK could not be trapped in a customs union indefinitely.

The Prime Minister is pursuing two safeguards designed to ensure the controversial Irish ‘backstop’ could not last for more than 12 months.

The drive is the focus of efforts to turn around a massive Tory rebellion ahead of a crunch vote this month on the PM’s Brexit deal. 

But Government sources last night acknowledged the initiative would require more EU concessions than Brussels has so far been willing to grant.

And leading Eurosceptics said there were ‘no signs’ that resolve was wavering among more than 100 MPs who have vowed to join forces with Labour to defeat Mrs May’s deal. 

Last night it emerged that the PM is to take personal charge of no-deal planning, as the March 29 deadline for Britain’s exit from the EU approaches. Until now the cabinet committee charged with ensuring the UK is ready for Brexit has been chaired by Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington.

And leading Eurosceptics said there were ‘no signs’ that resolve was wavering among more than 100 MPs who have vowed to join forces with Labour to defeat Mrs May’s deal. 

Last night it emerged that the PM is to take personal charge of no-deal planning, as the March 29 deadline for Britain’s exit from the EU approaches. Until now the cabinet committee charged with ensuring the UK is ready for Brexit has been chaired by Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington.

The backstop, which has been demanded by Brussels and Dublin, is designed to prevent the emergence of a hard border on the island of Ireland if trade talks falter. But critics believe it could leave the UK trapped indefinitely in a form of customs union – which prevents us negotiating trade deals with non-EU countries.

No10 officials are now working on a possible Commons amendment to the Brexit vote which would give Parliament the right to serve notice to the EU of an intention to quit the backstop after 12 months – if Europe fails to agree a trade deal with the UK that would resolve the Irish border issue.

The amendment would rely on provisions in the Vienna Convention, which governs countries’ rights to withdraw unilaterally from international treaties. At the same time, Mrs May is seeking a written guarantee from Brussels that the EU will have reached a trade deal with the UK no later than 12 months after the end of the Brexit transition period.

This would leave the backstop in place in the Brexit withdrawal agreement. But officials believe that a guarantee written into the political declaration on future relations would have ‘legal force’.

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