Metro UK: Boris Johnson bends to EU as Brexit talks enter crucial week

Boris Johnson is under pressure to concede more ground to Brussels as his hopes for an early breakthrough in crunch Brexit talks continue to fade.

Time is rapidly running out for the prime minister who needs EU leaders to sign off on a deal at their two-day summit starting on Thursday. UK and EU officials will resume talks in the Belgian capital today, hoping to strike an agreement in order to leave with a deal on 31 October. The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said ‘technical-level’ talks over the weekend were ‘constructive’ but last night said ‘a lot of work remains to be done’.

EU ambassadors claim Mr Johnson is making concessions over the Northern Ireland border issue but ‘a big gap’ remains over customs arrangements. The prime minister faces a frantic week ahead, as he will have to come back from the EU summit with an approved deal he can get past MPs on 19 October during a special Saturday sitting in the Commons if he is not to face demands to comply with the Benn Act.

This would see him asking for a Brexit extension to the end of January, but he has said he would rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than request a delay. Despite saying he will abide by the law, the PM has said he will leave by the Halloween deadline ‘come what may’.

Today, the government will set out its agenda for life after Brexit in the Queen’s Speech. Domestic plans will also be revealed, including crime prevention and ending rail franchises in the Queen’s address, which opens the new session of Parliament.

In a Cabinet meeting yesterday, the PM told senior ministers that while a ‘pathway’ to a deal could still be seen, there was ‘still a significant amount of work to get there’.

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Despite the terms of the Benn Act, Mr Johnson said they had to be prepared to leave without a deal. Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has said the Government could achieve a no-deal Brexit by using European law. He told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour: ‘Theresa May got an extension not through UK law, but through EU law and until the 1972 European Communities Act is repealed, EU law is superior law in the UK.

‘And the remainiacs all know that, because they know that it takes two to tango and any extension has to be agreed by the council.’ The sticking point remains the issue of the Northern Ireland backstop intended to guarantee there is no return of a hard border with the Republic.

Mr Barnier was reported to have raised concern about the complexity of a British plan to keep Northern Ireland in the UK customs territory while avoiding the need for border controls. There were reported be doubts about the feasibility of the scheme which was said to involve tracking goods as they move through Northern Ireland and then determining the tariff to be paid depending where they end up. It raised the prospect that negotiations could carry on after this week, with the possibility of an emergency EU summit at the end of the month to finally approve any 11th hour agreement.

However if Mr Johnson cannot get a deal by the weekend, he will come under intense pressure to seek a further Brexit delay, something he has vowed not to do.

Labour has warned that if necessary it will take action through the courts to force him to comply with the act seeking an extension. Either way, the stage is set for a major Commons showdown when the Prime Minister returns to Westminster for the emergency Saturday sitting of Parliament, the first in 37 years.

If he cannot get deal he is widely expected to blame MPs for cutting the ground from under him, laying the ground for a ‘people versus Parliament’ general election.

If he is able to get an agreement, Government sources have said they will seek to rush through legislation to ratify it in time for the promised Halloween withdrawal date. Some opposition MPs have signalled they could support a Brexit agreement if there was a a requirement to put it to the public in a confirmatory second referendum.