British PM takes personal control of Brexit talks

LONDON - UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday she will take personal control of Brexit negotiations with the EU, as time runs out to get a deal before Britain leaves the bloc in March.

Overall responsibility for the talks is being moved to the Cabinet Office, the ministry which supports May and where her main Brexit adviser, civil servant Olly Robbins, is based.

The ministry led by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, ostensibly the public face of the negotiations, will instead focus on domestic preparations for Brexit, including the risk of reaching no deal.

"I will lead the negotiations with the European Union, with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union deputizing on my behalf," May said in a statement to parliament.

Raab, who only took over on July 9 after his predecessor David Davis quit in protest at May's plan for close economic ties with the EU, denied he had been demoted.

He noted he met EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels last week, would see him again this Thursday and intended to make regular visits over the summer.

Raab told a committee of lawmakers that May's statement simply confirmed that there is "one team, one change of command".

A shift in responsibility has been under way for months, as Davis was increasingly sidelined by Robbins before he quit - in what one euroskeptic MP suggested on Tuesday was a "coup d'etat".

But Brexit supporters expressed anger that Raab, a fervent believer in the opportunities of leaving the EU, would not be in charge of fulfilling them.

"This is absolutely devastating news to the 17.4 million people that voted to leave the EU as we now look set for Brexit In Name Only," said Richard Tice of campaign group Leave Means Leave.

Earlier on Tuesday, Raab presented to parliament a policy paper outlining the elements of the divorce deal agreed so far with the EU, which will eventually be turned into law.

'Absolutely' support

Meanwhile, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday that Ireland would "absolutely" support Britain if it asked for an extension to the Article 50 timetable for leaving the EU.

"If Britain asks for more time, and if that's necessary to get to a sensible agreement, well then we would support that," he told BBC radio.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019 after it formally notified the bloc of Britain's intention to leave the EU by triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty in March 2017.

Coveney said he didn't believe a no deal Brexit would happen, saying Britain and the EU would both suffer.

"Clearly, for Ireland, a no deal Brexit is very bad news. Clearly, for Britain, a no deal Brexit is very bad news too ... We have to prepare, of course, in terms of contingency planning, for that eventuality ... but I do not think that that is a likely scenario."

As well as the prospect of a longer timetable for leaving the EU, some have discussed the prospect of the process being reversed altogether.

Campaigners have sought to test the reversibility of Article 50, although a court case brought in Ireland to establish whether Britain could withdraw the notice of its departure unilaterally was dropped last year.

AFP - Reuters