British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make his “final” offer Wednesday for a “fair and reasonable compromise” to get Britain out of the European Union.
Johnson will speak at the Conservative Party conference for the first time as prime minister, where he will lay out his proposal to complete the process that began more than three years ago.
“Voters are desperate for us to focus on other priorities,” Johnson said. “What people want, what ‘Leavers’ want, what ‘Remainers’ want, what the whole world wants is to move on. Let’s get Brexit done — we can, we must and we will.”
EU leaders in Belgium will receive legal documents Wednesday and if they don’t engage with the proposal there will be no further talks until after the scheduled Oct. 31 exit, Johnson said.
Johnson warned British Parliament it cannot stop him from leaving without a deal, in spite of a law barring him from doing so without lawmakers’ approval.
“The EU is obliged by EU law only to negotiate with member state governments, they cannot negotiate with Parliament, and this government will not negotiate a delay,” Johnson said.
He said British voters don’t want to be “taken for fools” by those who want to block the process.
Johnson’s final offer is said to include customs checks on both sides of Ireland’s border with Northern Ireland, as an alternative to the backstop. Leaked details of the plan say it would also put Northern Ireland in a different relationship than the rest of the European Union.
Irish leaders have rejected such a proposal.
“What we are talking about again is picking and choosing certain parts of the single market that would be aligned in Northern Ireland,” Ireland European affairs minister Helen McEntee said. “It is talking about a time limit, which again is not acceptable.”
