Jeremy Hunt has said the UK is prepared to be flexibleover how to address concerns about the Northern Ireland backstop in an effort to strike a deal with the EU.
The foreign secretary said Europe’s leaders were giving “positive signals” as Theresa May pushes for concessions to get her Brexit deal passed during a Commons vote next week.
Hunt, who has been part of a diplomatic push in European capitals, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “The signals we are getting are reasonably positive. I don’t want to overstate them because I still think there’s a lot of work to do but I think they do understand that we are being sincere.
“They are beginning to realise that we can get a majority in parliament because they are seeing the signals coming from the people who voted against the deal before who are saying, crucially, that they are prepared to be reasonable about how we get to that position that we can’t legally be trapped in the backstop.”
His words come as the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, and the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, held fresh talks in Brussels in a renewed effort to secure changes to the backstop to allay fears it could leave the UK trapped in a customs union with the EU.
Cox has reportedly dropped attempts to secure either a time limit or unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop in the face of entrenched opposition from the EU.
Asked whether they were still the UK’s demands, Hunt said the crucial issue was avoiding an indefinite backstop and “how we get there is something we are prepared to be flexible about”.
That could mean a role for a “fair arbitration mechanism”, he said.
Hunt was also pressed on whether he would support no deal if a solution could not be reached. “I hope that does not happen. What I am working for, alongside all members of parliament, is to get that deal through and I think we can.”
He added: “I have always said whatever happens in negotiations, we are a strong country and will find a way to prosper. But no deal would cause huge disruption. No one in the cabinet wants no deal. What we want is a deal.”Hunt was also asked about the situation in Yemen after visiting Aden, the temporary capital of the country, where he spoke to Yemen’s foreign minister, Khaled al-Yamani. He met Houthi negotiators including Mohammed Abdel-Salem in Oman at the start of his three-day visit to the Middle East.
He said the “humanitarian crisis was happening now” and people could not access food due to forces still positioned at the port.
“The way it is, is the Houthis control the port of Hodeidah … they agreed they would leave, but what they are saying – and it’s the cause of deadlock – is that they agreed to leave because they wanted Hodeidah to be in neutral control and they worry if they leave the other side will move in.
“That was not what was agreed. It was agreed that the UN would monitor local police forces who would be independent either side. It’s building that trust. We keep being on brink of breakthrough but not quite getting there and 80 days since agreement … longer it takes more confidence dented that we will actually see way through to peace process.”