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David Davis has 'undermined EU's trust in the UK' with 'unacceptable' comments on Ireland deal

Guy Verhofstadt has slammed David Davis (Rex)
Guy Verhofstadt has slammed David Davis (Rex)

David Davis made “unhelpful” comments on Irish border deal, which have “undermined” the EU’s trust in the UK, the European parliament’s coordinator has said.

Guy Verhofstadt said that comment made by the Brexit secretary, in which he described the preliminary deal with Brussels as simply a ‘statement of intent’, were “unacceptable”.

Yesterday, the Conservative minister attempted to diffuse an escalating row by arguing that his words had been misunderstood.

Last week, the EU announced that “sufficient progress” had been made on key issues — Northern Ireland, EU citizens’ right and the divorce bill — to progress to the next round of negotiations.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said he regarded this statement as “politically bulletproof” and “cast iron”, but Davis’s comments created confusion about what had been agreed.

“Remarks by David Davis that Phase one deal last week not binding were unhelpful & undermines trust,” Verhofstadt wrote on Twitter.

“[European Parliament] text will now reflect this & insist agreement translated into legal text ASAP,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added: “It’s time the UK government restores trust. These amendments will further toughen up our resolution.”

The deal made between the government and Brussels last week, which involves an expected payment of around £39bn, includes “full alignment” with the EU on issues that affect Northern Ireland.

“I said this was a statement of intent, which was much more than just legally enforceable,” Davis told LBC today.

“Of course it’s legally enforceable under the withdrawal agreement, but even if that didn’t happen for some reason, if something went wrong, we would still be seeking to provide a frictionless, invisible border with Ireland.

“I was making the point it was much more than what’s just in the treaty, it’s what we want to do anyway.”

David Davis has sparked further confusion over the border deal with Northern Ireland
David Davis has sparked further confusion over the border deal with Northern Ireland

Davis also risked provoking another row with Phillip Hammond, as he said the chancellor “slightly mis-spoke” when he said Britain will be forced to pay the divorce bill even in the event of no deal scenario.

In the same interview, Davis has said he doesn’t have to be “very clever” or “know that much” to do his job.

The Brexit secretary said that his roles requires him to “be calm”, although noted that last week’s calamitous negotiations “did test the calmness a little bit.”

Earlier in the month, Davis admitted that no impact assessments have been made on the effect of Brexit on the UK economy.

The Brexit Secretary was accused of misleading Parliament over the non-existence of formal documents into the likely impact of EU withdrawal on different sectors of the UK economy.

In October Mr Davis said that reports had been conducted “in excruciating detail”.