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#Brexit - Verhofstadt suggests it might be the guillotine for the Brexiteers

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The head of the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group, Guy Verhofstadt, announced that he will be meeting with Secretary of State for the Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Lidington, who Verhofstadt described as being the effective deputy prime minister, writes Catherine Feore.

Verhofstadt had hoped that cross-party co-operation on Brexit would have happened a long time ago. He thinks that the parties could have a common position and a way forward. He said that the letters between the UK prime minister and the leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn "were not far apart".

He thought it was possible to find a creative solution, especially for a country like the UK, that had found broad majorities in the past. He underlined that a technical majority of five, 10 or 15 would be inadequate given that there was other legislation that needed approval.

He said that it was completely irresponsible of the hardliners to reject cross-party co-operation, because a no-deal scenario would be a disaster for everyone, and especially for the UK. He hoped that there would be new proposals from the British side.

Verhofstadt said that he had heard that the hard Brexiteers were compared to leaders of the French Revolution, where Gove is Brissot, Johnson Danton and Rees Mogg Robespierre.  He invited them to remember that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they were supposed to represent as they all ended up on the guillotine.

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Asked by a British journalist if there had been any progress, he said that he had not heard any new proposals. Another journalist asked about Verhofstadt’s comments on making the political declaration on the EU’s future relationship with the UK “more binding”. He said that it could be strengthened, as there are many “coulds” in the declaration. This will not satisfy those British MPs who want “legally binding” changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.

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