UK Prime Minister Johnson Says Other Solutions Than Backstop Possible For Irish Border

UK Prime Minister Johnson Says Other Solutions Than Backstop Possible for Irish Border

The United Kingdom can only agree to a withdrawal deal without a backstop, other solutions exist for the Irish border, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2019) The United Kingdom can only agree to a withdrawal deal without a backstop, other solutions exist for the Irish border, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday.

"If an agreement is to be reached, it must be clearly understood that goes by way of the abolition of the backstop," Johnson told the parliament.

"I do not accept the argument that says these issues can only be solved by all or part of the United Kingdom remaining in the customs union or in the single market. The evidence is that other arrangements are perfectly possible," Johnson added.

Johnson stressed that his government was ready to discuss this with the European Union.

"And I hope that the European Union will be equally ready and that they will rethink their current refusal to make any changes to the withdrawal agreement. If they do not, we will of course have to leave ... without an agreement under Article 50. The United Kingdom is better prepared for that situation than many believe. But we are not as ready yet as we should be," Johnson said.

The prime minister stressed that the country would have to "turbocharge" its preparations for a no-deal Brexit, which would include not only mitigating the consequences, but embracing opportunities.

"We will begin right away on working to change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to investing capital and research. We will now be accelerating the talks on those free trade deals," Johnson said.

The UK prime minister added that the United Kingdom would not nominate a commissioner for a new European Commission that would take office in December.