EU ready for new talks with May after Brexit deal defeat

The EU is ready to restart Brexit talks if the withdrawal agreement is rejected by MPs as expected, according to two senior German politicians.

The prime minister’s RAF plane is reportedly on standby to whisk her to Brussels in the event of a crushing defeat in the Commons.

And German foreign minister Heiko Maas has confirmed “there could be further talks” if the vote “goes wrong.”

Udo Bullmann, the leader of the centre-left group in the European parliament and a fellow member of Germany’s social democrats, also said he understands that further talks will take place.

“The European institutions are prepared for the touch downs in Brussels and are prepared for additional conversations,” he said.

European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will also race back to Brussels on Tuesday night from the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The decision has caused controversy in Spain, where he has been accused of snubbing the country’s prime minister who is due to speak in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“President Juncker would have liked to have attended the debate but there are circumstance you’re aware of, like a vote in another country that’s decisive in terms of being a member of the EU,” said European commissioner, Pierre Moscovici.

“I’m talking about Brexit. President Juncker needed to be in Brussels…It’s just to do with the duties of the president because of this specific emergency.”

However, Berlin have hit back at claims that German chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to help May win a major new concession from the EU that would sway Tory sceptics.

“Merkel believes there is more the EU can do once the vote is over as no deal would be a disaster for everyone, and they agreed to talk after it,” a source told the Sun newspaper of a conversation between Merkel and May on Monday.

A German government spokesperson said Merkel’s words had been “wrongly reflected” by the report.

Maas also warned the EU was is about to make a major concession to break the deadlock in London.

“The agreement stands, as it is,” he told reporters at the European parliament in Strasbourg.

“I doubt very much that the agreement can be fundamentally reopened. If there were a better solution, it would already have been put forward.”

The EU’s formal response to the vote will be set out by its chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Wednesday morning to the European parliament.

One option being prepared for in Brussels is a possible request for an extension of Article 50, which would delay Brexit beyond the current date of March 29.

Esteban Gonzalez Pons MEP, vice-chair of the parliament’s EPP group, said: “The EPP is not against the extension of Article 50. If the prime minister of the UK were to need more time, then it will certainly not be the EPP group which would oppose granting additional time. But this would be need to be additional time denominated in weeks rather than months.”

That is significant as the EPP is the EU’s largest political family and counts Barnier, European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European council president Donald Tusk amongst its members.

READ MORE: EU leaders give ‘solemn’ backstop reassurances to May ahead of Brexit vote

However, Philippe Lamberts of the European parliament Brexit steering said May would have to be clear what she wanted from the extension.

He said: “More time for a referendum? Sure. More time for a general election? Sure. More time to think about it? No….If the parliament is not able to make up its mind, ask the people.”

Bullmann, the leader of Labour’s group in the European parliament, also called for British voters to have the final say over the process through a referendum or elections.

And he said: “I have severe doubts that in the given situation you would find a Brexit majority in the population of the UK because this is the situation in which the people see the bill – not that crazy narratives they were told about.

“They see the reality. The more they see the reality the more they will question if it’s a good deal.”

READ MORE: European Commission hits out at claim it’s trying to ‘punish’ the UK over Brexit