The EU President has also issued a strong response to Tuesday night’s Brexit vote.
On Tuesday evening, British MPs voted on several amendments to be made to the impending Brexit, but while two separate amendments involving a delay to the Brexit date were vote down, they also voted against a no-deal Brexit to be allowed to take place.
Many have pointed out that voting against both of these issues would appear to be contradictory, but one politician did publicly state that the votes have had a potentially much bigger impact.
SNP’s Ian Blackford has said (via The Guardian) that “Tonight the Conservative Party has effectively ripped apart the Good Friday Agreement”.
Additionally, the EU President Donald Tusk had his representatives release a response immediately after the results of the MPs voting, stating that “The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement and the withdrawal agreement is not open for re-negotiation.”
Tusk’s full response can be found here:
Breaking – immediate EU reaction to commons #Brexit vote – this from @eucopresident spokesman – @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/b2srvEjDMd
— Mark Stone (@Stone_SkyNews) January 29, 2019
Furthermore, Leo Varadkar has also released a full statement in response to tonight’s voting:
“The EU position on the withdrawal agreement, including the backstop, is set out in the conclusions of the December meeting of the European Council. It has not changed.
“The withdrawal agreement is not open for re-negotiation. The agreement is a carefully negotiated compromise, which balances the UK position on customs and the single market with avoiding a hard border and protecting the integrity of the EU customs union and single market.
“The best way to ensure an orderly withdrawal is to ratify this agreement. We have consistently said that we want the closest possible future relationship between the EU and the UK. A change in the UK red lines could lead to a change in the political Declaration on the framework for the future relationship, and a better overall outcome.
“We will continue our preparations for all outcomes, including for a no-deal scenario.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
