Brexit deal 'best we can do' given Theresa May’s red-lines, EU says

Deal reflects the fact 'that any outcome will be inferior to full membership'

The Brexit deal struck by Theresa May could not be renegotiated any further within her current red-lines if it is rejected by MPs, Brussels has signalled.

Speaking in the EU capital on Thursday a senior EU official said the withdrawal agreement was “the best we can do” given the current constraints on both sides.

The deal has received a savaging from all sides in the UK, with a spate of ministers resigning from the cabinet and Brexiteers, Labour, and the DUP all saying they would vote against it.

“I would say that for the negotiators, we are happy to stand over this agreement and we think this is the best we can do collectively with the constraints we have on both sides,” the senior official said when asked if the plan could be renegotiated if MPs voted it down.

“That is as far as I can go and I’m not going to speculate on any other scenario.”

The official added that they would not “speculate” about the deal’s failure, and said: “We think, on both sides, we have exhausted our margin of manoeuvre and our respective mandates, and if someone comes with wishes for changes they also have to take responsibility and what it does to the process.”

European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said at lunchtime on Thursday that the deal reflected the fact “that any outcome will be inferior to full membership”.

We think, on both sides, we have exhausted our margin of manoeuvre

Senior EU official

On the continent, EU member states have also expressed some concerns about the nature of the future relationship – warning that it might give the UK a competitive advantage over countries in the single market.

French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday his country would be “be very careful to ensure that the agreement does not weaken the single market” before signing it off.

The line in the sand from Brussels stops short of ruling out a renegotiation, but effectively means that red lines would have to change for a substantially different deal to emerge.

European Council president Donald Tusk said this morning that Brexit was “lose-lose” for both sides even with the deal and that the agreement was about “damage control”.

“Of course I don’t share the prime minister’s enthusiasm about Brexit as such,” he said. “Since the very beginning we have had no doubt that Brexit is a lose-lose situation and that our negotiations are only about damage control.

The Commission refused to be drawn on the political turmoil engulfing the UK. A spokesperson told reporters: “I understand that there is an interest for us to become some sort of commentators on current affairs currently taking place in Westminster but I am not going to do that.”