EU ministers blast Theresa May for bowing to Tory Right on Brexit

European foreign ministers today accused Theresa May of undermining her own Brexit plan by giving in to hardline Tory eurosceptics this week.

They also attacked her Chequers blueprint as inadequate to solve the Northern Ireland border issue, contradicting a speech by Mrs May in Belfast.

French European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said the Prime Minister’s political difficulties at home were harming the chances of a deal with the European Union. “We know that there have been amendments to different provisions in Britain which makes it even harder for us to discuss with our British partner,” she told reporters in Brussels as ministers arrived for a summit. The remark referred to Mrs May accepting four “wrecking amendments” demanded by Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group on Monday after Right-wingers threatened to scupper legislation.

Ms Loiseau said Chequers failed to offer a “weatherproof” guarantee there would be no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Gernot Blumel, the Europe minister of Austria, which currently holds the presidency of the European Council, told reporters: “I just assured Michel Barnier that we stick to the lines we have taken and that we are ready to ensure the unity of the 27 to back up his position as chief negotiator.” He said a hard Brexit was “not off the table”.

German minister Michael Roth said: “It’s hard to be an optimist in these challenging times. Time is running out, the clock is ticking.”

A Cabinet minister admitted there could be a “complete crash out” from the European Union if the two sides did not come together.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said Britain was preparing for an exit so unruly that there was “absolutely no relationship with the European Union”. She stressed that Britain wanted a deal but said the Government was also preparing in case of a “disorderly” departure from the bloc.

She added: “If we crashed out with absolutely no relationship with the European Union there would be an awful lot of implications from that. We have quite rightly been planning for it.” Former Italian premier Italian Matteo Renzi warned that both sides could lose out if talks sour. He told the BBC’s Today programme the “consequences of a hard Brexit would be very difficult for everyone”.

Mrs May used her Belfast speech to present Chequers as a “workable” solution to the fear of a hard border returning between Northern Ireland and the Republic, a key stumbling block. But EU foreign ministers sided with Ireland by saying the border was the “priority” before any deal on trade and security.

Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney took to Twitter to demand the Government accepts an EU-designed backstop that would effectively shift the border to the Irish sea.

He wrote: “If UK Govt don’t support current EU wording on Backstop in draft Withdrawal Agreement, then obligation is on them to propose a viable and legally operable alternative wording that delivers same result: no border infrastructure. Clear UK commitments were made on this in Dec+March.”

No deal preparations have now been stepped up in the bloc, particularly in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, the UK’s closest trading partners. Irish premier Leo Varadkar claimed earlier this week that Ireland might forbid British airlines from using its airspace unless it was given fishing rights in British waters.