Members of the EU27 have rejected the possibility of renegotiating the Irish backstop and called for a convincing plan B that could win round the UK parliament to a Brexit deal.
In a shot across Theresa May’s bows, Peter Altmaier, Germany’s economics minister and a key ally of Angela Merkel, appeared to warn both Labour and the Conservatives against abandoning their cross-party talks.
“Sympathy, patience and readiness to wait until the UK’s position will be clarified are of utmost important to avoid the worst,” he tweeted. “They should not be misused for party politics. Large majority wants to exclude hard Brexit – in the interest of the UK & beyond.”
Arriving in Brussels for a meeting on Monday, EU27 foreign ministers expressed varying degrees of openness to making changes to the withdrawal agreement, but were sceptical of being able to offer anywhere near enough for May to secure the support of rebel MPs.