European Parliament ‘won’t approve’ Brexit deal without Irish ‘backstop’

The European Parliament’s Brexit group said on Thursday it would not approve an agreement on Britain’s departure from the EU that did not contain a ‘backstop’ provision to avoid a hard Irish border. The parliament’s Brexit Steering Group, chaired by Guy Verhofstadt, reiterated that the withdrawal agreement is fair and cannot be re-negotiated, Reuters reports. “This applies especially to the backstop… without such an ‘all-weather’ backstop-insurance, the European Parliament will not give its consent to the withdrawal agreement,” according to the statement. The EU Parliament also urged the UK government to clarify in the coming days its position regarding the Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc.