Ireland says UK demand for Brexit deal change is 'wishful thinking'
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS JANUARY 30, 2019 / 2:22 AM / UPDATED 27 MINUTES AGO
Guy Faulconbridge, Gabriela Baczynska
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ireland accused British Prime Minister Theresa May of wishful thinking on Wednesday for seeking to renegotiate a post-Brexit arrangement for the Irish border in an attempt to get backing for Britains EU divorce deal in parliament.
Other European Union leaders had quickly dismissed the idea of reopening the deal, saying the Irish backstop was not negotiable, shortly after parliament instructed May to do just that in a vote on Tuesday.
Less than two months before the United Kingdom is due by law to leave the EU on March 29, investors and allies are trying to gauge where the crisis will end up, with options including a disorderly no-deal Brexit, a delay, or no Brexit at all.
Two weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting the deal May had agreed in Brussels in two years of talks, a 317-310 majority in parliament demanded she secure a replacement for the backstop, an insurance policy that aims to prevent a hard border being erected between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu/ireland-says-uk-demand-for-brexit-deal-change-is-wishful-thinking-idUSKCN1PO0NQ