UK's May considering amending Good Friday deal to break Brexit impasse - Daily Telegraph

[webfact]

UK's May considering amending Good Friday deal to break Brexit impasse - Daily Telegraph

 

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at church, near High Wycombe, Britain, January 20, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May is considering solving a Brexit deadlock by amending a 1998 agreement that ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland after ditching attempts to negotiate a cross-party deal, the Daily Telegraph reported late on Sunday.

 

May's plan to amend the 1998 Good Friday Agreement would see the UK and Ireland agree a separate set of principles or add text to "support or reference" the 1998 peace deal setting out how both sides would guarantee an open border after Brexit, the newspaper reported.

 

May suffered a heavy defeat in parliament on Tuesday when lawmakers and members of other parties rejected her deal for Britain's with the European Union by an overwhelming majority. Many object to a backstop arrangement that the European Union insists on as a guarantee to avoid a hard border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

 

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement that largely ended years of violence between Irish republicans and pro-British unionists, border posts were removed and the province was given a power-sharing structure where both communities were represented.

 

According to The Daily Telegraph, senior EU sources have called May's new plan a non-starter while British government sources are "sceptical" that it would work, as the plan is likely to prove controversial and would require the consent of all the parties involved in Northern Ireland.

 

Neale Richmond, a member of Ireland's governing Fine Gael party and chairman of the upper house of parliament's Brexit committee, said the Good Friday Agreement cannot be renegotiated lightly.

 

"The #GFA is an international peace treaty, lodged with the @UN - it also has a mandate of 94% in Ireland and 71% in Northern Ireland. Not something that can be renegotiated lightly or easily to meet #Brexit whims", he tweeted.

 

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reported that plans to seek a bilateral treaty with the Irish government as a way to remove the contentious backstop arrangement.

 

Sky News reported that May is expected to set out plans to try and remove the Irish backstop, in an effort to win around the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party.

 

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Thomas)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-21

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Not something that can be renegotiated lightly or easily to meet #Brexit whims

Might that require a referendum in both to even consider renegotiation?

The Brexit timetable may be too short for that process.

[puipuitom]

And… most important at all: does the EU accept that changement in the "May deal proposal"?

 

Remind.. a compromise between the EU and the UK is not the same as an accepted compromise in the British House fo Commons.

[Bluespunk]

May’s ineptitude and utter incompetence throughout the brexit debacle has been displayed for all to see. 

 

Under no circumstances whatsoever should this desperate politician be allowed anywhere near the Good Friday Agreement. 

[Basil B]

Still flogging the same dead horse...

 

How log will it take to get all the "Good Friday" parties together and agree on changes??? it just not going to happen, she is stalling.

[Chomper Higgot]

Having infected the whole of the UK with the conflict that has its roots in Tory party infighting, the Tories now want to spread their infection across the Irish border.

 

TM is already twisting the UK to try and fit it into the failed Brexit, she now wants to screwup the Good Friday agreement to fit the crock that Brexit is.

 

Grow up and admit, Brexit has failed.

[Baerboxer]

17 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Might that require a referendum in both to even consider renegotiation?

The Brexit timetable may be too short for that process.

 

The arrogant stubborn May believes she can just tell them what her amendment is - and hey ho, they'll accept it without a murmur and then parliament will back her crap deal.

 

We've just seen how fruitful and meaningful her notion of "cross party discussions" was.

 

Good job the Supreme Court thwarted her ambition to misuse the Royal Prerogative to impose her deals.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Having infected the whole of the UK with the conflict that has its roots in Tory party infighting, the Tories now want to spread their infection across the Irish border.

 

TM is already twisting the UK to try and fit it into the failed Brexit, she now wants to screwup the Good Friday agreement to fit the crock that Brexit is.

 

Grow up and admit, Brexit has failed.

 

She's far to arrogant, stubborn and full of her own crock of to admit that.

 

A petty wannabee dictator who thought she'd a) be able to misuse the Royal Prerogative to by-pass parliament b) win an even bigger majority with a needless snap election - wrong and c) con parliament and the electorate that her crap deal is fantastic. She has tried threatening the electorate with a "my deal or no deal" and then "my deal or no Brexit". She just doesn't get reality.

 

Saw 2 security issues with hi-jacked cars in Londonderry last night. Anyone who thinks the republican terrorists will sit back and swallow her crap is deluded.

[Baerboxer]

10 hours ago, Basil B said:

Still flogging the same dead horse...

 

How log will it take to get all the "Good Friday" parties together and agree on changes??? it just not going to happen, she is stalling.

 

Saw some commentators yesterday claiming exactly that. She's winding the clock down till the last minute then hoping the threat of no deal will force acceptance of her crap deal. 

 

Then she'll swan off to Brussels and expect warm applause - and lining up some lucrative future role as her MP days have reached their shelf life.

[Baerboxer]

10 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

May’s ineptitude and utter incompetence throughout the brexit debacle has been displayed for all to see. 

 

Under no circumstances whatsoever should this desperate politician be allowed anywhere near the Good Friday Agreement. 

 

Totally agree. 

 

She will plunge Ireland back into dark times out of sheer stupid desperation.

[dick dasterdly]

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Saw some commentators yesterday claiming exactly that. She's winding the clock down till the last minute then hoping the threat of no deal will force acceptance of her crap deal. 

 

Then she'll swan off to Brussels and expect warm applause - and lining up some lucrative future role as her MP days have reached their shelf life.

Sounds about right to me, but don't forget the many lucrative directorships she'll receive from big business.

[steve187]

there can not be a soft border with S/Ireland once we leave the EU, the GFA was negotiated while both Irelands were in the EU

[Grouse]

Irish reunification would be good! Maybe Airbus can shift manufacture of wings to NI as a sweetener?