Yahoo Finance May calls Juncker for help amid struggle to pass Brexit deal
UK prime minister Theresa May has spoken EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker in a fresh bid to win the Brexit deal assurances she believes are needed to convince MPs to back it.
The phone call on Friday afternoon was part of May’s festive lobbying blitz, which has also included contact with EU council president Donald Tusk and German chancellor Angela Merkel.
A commission spokesperson said the pair has a “friendly” exchange and had “agreed to stay in touch next week.”
Before the call, they said: “The prime minister has been in an outreach to brief leaders all over Europe on the latest state of play and the situation in the UK so I expect this to be the subject of the phone call.
“The president’s door is always open to listen to the prime minister so that’s what he will do for sure.”
May is likely to lay bare the full extent of Commons opposition to the draft withdrawal agreement, which is due to be voted on by MPs on 15 January.
READ MORE: Juncker didn’t send May a Christmas card because ‘the Brexit deal is a better gift’
The call comes on the day that a YouGov survey revealed that it has the backing of just 29% of Tory members.
And senior backbench Tory John Whittingdale told the Telegraph: “I don’t know of anybody who previously said they aren’t willing to vote for it and are now willing to vote for it.”
However, the same Commission spokesperson this week warned May not to expect a major concession on the deal.
They said: “Our solutions are on the table. We are ready to listen, but at this stage there are no further meetings (between negotiators) and the EU 27 leaders have been very clear that they will not renegotiated what is on the table.”
Juncker himself also said it is “unreasonable” to expect the EU to provide a solution to the impasse in an interview with a German newspaper last week.
He said: “My appeal is this: get your act together and then tell us what it is you want. Our proposed solutions have been on the table for months…
“… All we want is clarity about our future relations. And we respect the result of the referendum.”
However, EU leaders are preparing to make a limited intervention ahead of the vote designed to reassure sceptics that the UK will not be trapped in the Irish border backstop.
“The commission made very clear privately before the Christmas break that there will be something helpful coming in the week before the vote,” a Cabinet source told the Times.
READ MORE: Juncker ignored EU watchdog’s advice over Brexit talks transparency, letters reveal
Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said he had “brainstormed” with Merkel over how to “assist prime minister May in securing ratification of the withdrawal agreement” during a 40 minute telephone call on Thursday.
“We’re happy to offer reassurances and guarantees to the UK, but not reassurances and guarantees that contradict or change what was agreed back in November,” he said.
But the assurances are being referred to as “operation figleaf” in Whitehall.
In a sign the assurances are not expected to make an immediate impact on the views of MPs, one Downing Street insider told Buzzfeed: “If we have to have the vote 30 times, we will.”
