Lest there be any doubt remaining...
May plea for Brexit renegotiation hits wall of resistance from EU
Theresa May's plan to renegotiate Britain's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has met a wall of resistance from the EU, with the continent's most senior politicians and officials lining up to insist the deal cannot be unpicked. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament that "the Withdrawal Agreement remains the best and only deal possible". He added: "The debate and votes in the House of Commons yesterday do not change that. "The Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated."
Mr Juncker told MEPs that the backstop represented a "safety net" for the Irish border, adding: "No safety net can ever truly be safe if it can just be removed at any time." He said he sometimes had the impression that some on the UK side hoped that 26 EU states "will abandon the backstop - and so Ireland - at the last minute". But he insisted: "This is not a game and neither is it a simple bilateral issue. It goes to the heart of what being a member of the EU means. "Ireland's border is Europe's border and it is our Union's priority."
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the European Parliament that "we share the will of the UK Parliament to avoid a no deal". "I agree with Theresa May, voting against a no deal - as happened yesterday - does not rule out the risk of a no deal," he said.
"For us, the Withdrawal Agreement remains the best and only means to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK." He added: "The backstop is part and parcel of the Withdrawal Agreement and this agreement will not be renegotiated." Mr Barnier said the backstop was "at the heart" of the EU's efforts to protect the single market after Brexit.
Responding to UK critics of the agreement, he said: "It is tough, I find it hard to accept this blame game they are trying to play against us." Mr Barnier said the EU was ready to work with the idea of "alternative arrangements" once the Withdrawal Agreement has been signed. But he said: "Right here and now, quite honestly, no-one on one side or the other can say very clearly and precisely what form these alternative arrangements will take so they can be operational and they can objectively meet the aims of the backstop. "Calmly and clearly, I will say right here and now - with this Withdrawal Agreement proposed for ratification - we need this backstop as it is. Rejecting the backstop as it stands today boils down to rejecting the solution which has been found with the British. But the problem remains." Mr Barnier said the EU "is ready and will continue to be ready to be more ambitious" in negotiating a future economic relationship with the UK.