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Three DUP MLAs
have been fined after fail- Boris Johnson Rebuffed By IRISH
ing to declare a donation
within the set time frame. Brussels Over Calls For Brexit
Jonathan Buckley, EXAMINER
Michelle McIlveen and
William Humphrey have Backstop To Be Axed |
each been fined £200
($243) by the Electoral oris Johnson has August
Commission. been met with a wall
They were found to Bof resistance from
have failed to report a Brussels over his demand 21st,
donation within 30 days. for major changes to the 2019
All three paid their Withdrawal Agreement,
fines in early July. increasing the risk of a no-
In a statement, the deal Brexit.
Electoral Commission The UK Prime Minister
said it has also concluded said that the backstop – the
three investigations into contingency plan to avoid a
hard border in Ireland –
failures to comply with should be removed from the
the Political Parties, divorce deal ahead of the
Elections and Referendum October 31 Brexit deadline.
Act (PPERA) by three reg- But European Council
ulated donees, relating to president Donald Tusk
donations accepted prior defended the measure and
to July 1 2017. warned that scrapping it
It has imposed penal- risked a return to a hard bor- “locks the UK” into a poten- approach. spokesman said.
ties of £250 ($303), der on the island of Ireland. tially indefinite customs The document disputes “It has already been reject-
£300 ($364) and £600 Downing Street said that union and applies single-mar- Mr Johnson’s claims about ed three times by MPs and is
($728) on these three unless the backstop is abol- ket legislation in Northern the Good Friday Agreement simply unviable as a solution,
regulated donees. The ished “there is no prospect of Ireland. and the Irish border. as the PM’s letter makes
deadline for payment or a deal.” As an alternative to the It was “incorrect to state clear.”
appeal is September 9 Mr Tusk said: “The back- backstop, the Prime Minister that the people of Northern Mr Johnson will meet
2019. stop is an insurance to avoid said the UK would agree to a Ireland have no influence German Chancellor Angela
The commission is a hard border on the island of “legally binding commit- over the legislation that Merkel on Wednesday and
unable to disclose any Ireland unless and until an ment” not to put in place would apply to them” and France’s Emmanuel Macron
infrastructure, checks or con-
alternative is found.
on Thursday for his first face-
“misleading” to suggest that
information concerning “Those against the back- trols at the border with the two separate jurisdictions to-face talks with Europe’s
donations to Northern stop and not proposing realis- Ireland and would hope the that exist on the island can be key powerbrokers.
Ireland recipients made tic alternatives in fact support EU did the same. managed with an open bor- The latest row with
prior to July 1 2017. C reestablishing a border. Even The backstop should be der because that was only Brussels comes as a senior US
if they do not admit it.” replaced with a commitment possible now due to the politician warned that legisla-
On average, 129 Officials in Brussels pri- to put in place “alternative framework provided by EU tors would move to block a
motorists are caught out vately accused Mr Johnson of arrangements”, as far as pos- law. future US-UK trade deal if it
by clampers in Dublin city making “incorrect” and “mis- sible before the end of the Any attempt to remove puts the Good Friday
every day. leading” claims about the sit- transition period, as part of the “vital insurance policy” of Agreement at risk by intro-
New figures show that uation. the future relationship the backstop would also be ducing a hard border.
Mespil Road remains the In public comments, the between the UK and EU. rejected by MEPs, the US Senate Democratic
top blackspot for illegal European Commission said But European European Parliament’s Brexit leader Chuck Schumer has
parking on the streets of the Prime Minister had failed Commission spokeswoman co-ordinator Guy written to US Secretary of
the capital. to put forward a “legal, oper- Natasha Bertaud said the let- Verhofstadt indicated. State Mike Pompeo warning
The numbers show that ational solution” to the issue ter “does not provide a legal, “The time for bluster [and] that Congress could work on
between January and and had acknowledged that if operational solution to pre- political blame games is fast a cross-party basis to block a
deal.
one could be found it might
vent the return of a hard bor-
running out,” he added.
June, 416 vehicles were not be ready in time. der on the island of Ireland.” In the face of apparently Mr Johnson spoke to US
clamped at the location. Mr Johnson wrote to Mr “It does not set out what co-ordinated resistance from President Donald Trump on
Ranelagh has emerged Tusk on Monday outlining any alternative arrangements the three main EU institu- the phone on Monday night
as a new clamping dan- his opposition to what he could be and in fact it recog- tions – the European to update him on Brexit
ger zone with 320 in the called the “anti-democratic” nizes that there is no guaran- Council, the European ahead of their meeting at the
first half of this year, Northern Ireland backstop, tee that such arrangements Commission and the G7 summit in France at the
compared to only 35 claiming it risked undermin- will be in place by the end of European Parliament – Mr weekend.
over the same period last ing the Good Friday the transitional period,” she Johnson stood firm on the Mr Trump later said he
year. Agreement. said. need for change. and Mr Johnson had shared a
So far this year, more In his letter, Mr Johnson An official briefing note “It is clear that unless the “great discussion” in which
than 23,300 people have said while he wants the UK to circulated among diplomats Withdrawal Agreement is they talked about moving
been clamped in the cap- leave the EU with a deal, he from the member states reopened and the backstop “rapidly on a US-UK free
ital. C could not support a made clear the EU’s frustra- abolished there is no prospect trade deal” after Britain’s
Withdrawal Agreement that tion with Mr Johnson’s of a deal,” a Downing Street departure from the bloc. C

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