Theresa May has appointed three hardline Brexiteers to an official working group charged with finding “alternative arrangements” to replace the Northern Ireland backstop. Brexiteers Steve Baker, Owen Patterson and Marcus Fysh will join Remainer former ministers Damian Green and Nicky Morgan in the working group which will meet for the first time on Monday. “The government is establishing an Alternative Arrangements Working Group which will hold regular meetings with Steve Barclay, the secretary of state for exiting the EU. “Leave-backing MPs voted to support alternative arrangements in NI but with grave misgivings about the whole agreement. Now the PM co-opts us into accepting everything but the backstop and, on the backstop, accepting a codicil,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times February 03, 2019 22:47 UTC