EU says ‘no’ after British MPs vote to reopen Brexit deal
European Council president Donald Tusk says the Irish border backstop is part of the withdrawal deal and is not up for negotiation
London — British MPs on Tuesday instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to demand that Brussels replace the Irish border arrangement known as the “backstop”, in a last-ditch attempt to renegotiate an exit treaty that the European Union says it will not change. The amendment, put forward by influential Conservative MP Graham Brady, passed by 317 votes to 301, and is intended to strengthen May’s hand when she returns to Brussels to try to renegotiate — something the EU again ruled out within minutes of the vote. With two months left until Britain is due by law to leave the EU, investors and allies have urged the British government to clinch a deal to allow an orderly exit from the club it joined in 1973. “Tonight, a majority of honourable members have said they would support a deal with changes to the backstop,” May said, only two weeks after her divorce deal was crushed in the biggest parliamentary defeat in modern British history. “It is now clear that there is a route that can secure...
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