EU Exit Negotiations

Stephen Kerr Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk (Cheltenham) (Con)]

rose—

[Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

I call Nigel Huddleston.

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. By definition, negotiations mean both sides sitting down, talking about the issues and coming to an agreement that both can accept. Very often, that does mean both sides having to accept some degree of compromise.

[Stephen Kerr]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Mr Chalk, you seem to be losing your appetite—I hope not.

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I reassure my hon. Friend that I do believe it is possible for us to come to an agreement that meets our requirements, and I believe it is possible for us to achieve the good deal that we want to see for the UK.

[Stephen Kerr]

I think I have heard very clearly the Prime Minister state and restate that our precious Union is not up for negotiation, but will she rule out any increase in checks on trade flowing between Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

[The Prime Minister]

What we have put forward in relation to the backstop proposal is a mixture of a UK-wide and Northern Ireland-specific proposal which meets the constitutional settlement that we have for Northern Ireland. As we have already recognised, a limited number of checks already take place. What we want to ensure, as I said earlier, is that businesses in Northern Ireland are able to have that free and unfettered access to the rest of the UK internal market and, indeed, in the backstop arrangement, have that unfettered access to the European Union as well.