Ireland PM says deal by Brexit deadline very difficult

Britain is facing many hurdles as it gets more closer to the Brexit deadline amid criticism and accusation by the European Union.

The European Union has accused Britain of playing a “stupid blame game” over Brexit after a Downing Street source said a deal was essentially impossible because German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made unacceptable demands.

It will be very difficult to secure a Brexit agreement by next week with big gaps remaining in the British position, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said following a phone call with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson.

“I’ll certainly work until the very last moment to secure that (a deal) but not at any cost... I think it will be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly,” Varadkar told Irish national broadcaster RTE.

“Essentially what the United Kingdom has done is repudiated the deal that we negotiated in good faith with Prime Minister May’s government over two years and has sort of put half of that now back on the table and are saying that’s a concession and of course it isn’t really. There are two big gaps.”  Johnson has consistently said the United Kingdom will leave the EU on Oct.31 with or without a deal, though a law passed by parliament demands he write a letter to the EU asking for a delay if he cannot strike an exit deal by Oct.19.

He has said he would abide by the law but Britain would leave the EU by the end of the month, without explaining that contradiction. He has also repeatedly demanded an election but parliament has refused to grant one.

With just 22 days before the United Kingdom is due to leave the bloc, the future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain as both London and Brussels position themselves to avoid blame for a delay or a disorderly no-deal Brexit.

Meanwhile, anti-Brexit campaigners claimed victory after Scotland’s highest court decided on Wednesday to wait before ruling whether to force Johnson to seek a delay to Britain’s EU divorce date if he has not struck a deal in the next 10 days.

An alliance of rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers voted through a law, known as the Benn Act, last month which requires him to ask for a Brexit delay if there is no deal in place by Oct.19.

The chances of any agreement with the European Union by next week appear slim at the moment with Varadkar saying there were big gaps between the two sides.

Johnson has said Britain will leave the bloc on Oct. 31 as scheduled and that he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for any further delay.

This week, anti-Brexit campaigners asked Scotland’s Court of Session to issue an order stating Johnson must abide by the Benn Act and to send a letter to the European Union on his behalf if he refused to do so himself, using a power known as “nobile officium.”

The court said normally it would have rejected the challenge but it had decided to delay consideration of the case until Oct. 21, after the date Johnson will have had to ask for an extension if no divorce deal had been agreed.

“It is clear that there will be changes in circumstances over the next 10 days,” the court’s three judges said in their ruling.

“The court will for these reasons continue consideration of the reclaiming motion and the petition to the ‘nobile officium’ until Monday, 21 October, by which time the position ought to be significantly clearer. At that time the court will expect to be addressed on the facts as they then present themselves.”

Government lawyers had told the court that Johnson accepted that he must carry out the requirements of the Benn Act, even though he has publicly rejected asking for any further delay.

“We have extracted from him a promise that he will comply with the law,” said Jo Maugham, a tax lawyer who was one of those behind the Scottish case.

“If he breaks that promise, he will face the music - including possible contempt proceedings. And the courts are likely to make good any failure on his part, including signing the Benn Act letter.”

Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union teetered on the brink of collapse, with tit-for-tat claims of intransigence and sabotage before an end of October deadline.

Agencies