With Conservative MPs across the spectrum seeing red over a mooted extension to the implementation period after the UK leaves the EU, Theresa May attempted to dial down the rhetoric in her EU Council press conference this afternoon. After a disappointing evening which saw the Prime Minister granted neither dinner nor sufficient progress by the EU27, May insisted to hacks that a good Brexit deal was still in sight.
On reports that No 10 is planning to extend the transition period by up to a year in a bid to reach a deal, May did not deny the claims – but insisted that this wouldn’t really be an implementation period extension per se. Instead, she said that the UK could be open to keeping an option open of extending the transition between the current end date and the trade deal coming into effect. What May appeared to try and imply was that this transition period would never be used as it wouldn’t be needed.
May then demonstrated her skill again at not answering the question when asked if reports that she had given Irish government figures assurances that any backstop would not be time-limited were correct. Rather than give a direct answer, the Prime Minister offered an explanation of why it is a backstop is necessary – on the off chance there is a gap between the end of the transition period and the future relationship coming into force.
May’s performance will do little to calm tensions within her party. With Brexiteers calling on May to drop the backstop altogether, the Prime Minister’s soft words show she that not only does she have no plans to do that, she also is not in the mood to play hardball with Brussels on the issue. Although May has said that an extension to the transition period is not a given, her answers were evasive and non-committal. Past experience means that a large chunk of MPs will remain suspicious when it comes to how May plans to end the current impasse.
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