The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, has complained to EU ambassadors that Brussels is failing to come up with ideas for replacing the Irish backstop.
According to a diplomatic cable detailing recent contacts between Barclay and embassies in London, the minister has insisted both the UK and EU have a responsibility to come up with ideas.
The approach reflects a nervousness in Downing Street at putting any alternatives to the backstop on the table for fear that they will be swiftly shot down, fuelling the febrile political atmosphere in Westminster.
MPs legislating to block a no-deal Brexit have justified their actions on the grounds that there is no hope of Boris Johnson renegotiating the withdrawal agreement. The former cabinet minister Rory Stewart tweeted on Wednesday morning: “The recent EU ‘negotiation’ has been a sham.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson’s envoy to the EU, David Frost, will be in Brussels with a team of British officials for his latest round of talks with the commission’s negotiating team but there is little confidence that new thinking will emerge from either side.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, have repeatedly said it is for the British government to put forward any alternative arrangement for the backstop given it is a UK request for it to be ditched.
A commission spokeswoman on Wednesday said that Juncker had “recalled” at a meeting of commissioners earlier in the day “that it’s the UK’s responsibility to come forward with concrete proposals that are operational and also compatible with withdrawal agreement”.
The British government insists parliament will not accept a deal that includes the backstop, which entails the whole of the UK, albeit temporarily, staying in a customs union and Northern Ireland remaining in the single market.
On Tuesday, the prime minister told the Commons the government did recognise that “for reasons of geography and economics, agri-food is increasingly managed on a common basis across the island of Ireland”.
The comments suggested Johnson is willing to accept what one EU official described as a “lightweight backstop” that would involve checks on agri-goods moving between Northern Ireland and Britain but ensure an open border for those goods on the island of Ireland.
The prime minister is due to meet the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on Monday in Dublin, where he will expand on the approach.
But the plan, which is due to be raised by Frost in this week’s talks, leaves open the question of how non-agricultural goods will be checked in a post-Brexit environment when the north and south of Ireland diverge in terms of regulations.
The European commission is concerned that reliance on technology and the creation of new frontier regulatory areas in which checks would be carried out would fail to live up to the commitments of the Good Friday agreement to protect the all-island economy.
In response to Johnson’s claim that progress is being made in the talks, EU officials have instead warned that the discussions are “going nowhere”, and that the seemingly imminent general election in the UK will bring them to a complete halt.
A UK government spokesman conceded that there was yet to be a meeting of minds in the talks but said the pace of negotiations would be intensified this month.
He said: “The prime minister wants to get a deal and is ready to work in an energetic and determined way to get it done. The prime minister’s sherpa [David Frost] will meet with the A50 taskforce this week and throughout September as talks intensify.
“He will be supported in Brussels by an expert team from across government that have expertise in regulations and customs.
“The team intends to run through a range of issues including the removal of the backstop. The prime minister has been clear that there will be no deal unless the withdrawal agreement is reopened and the backstop taken out.
“Discussions so far have shown that the two sides remain some distance apart on key issues but are willing to work hard to find a way through.”
