Verhofstadt Tells LBC: Backstop Is Just An Insurance, The EU27 Don't Want To Use It

13 December 2018, 13:47 | Updated: 13 December 2018, 14:56

The European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator has told LBC that the Irish backstop is just an insurance policy and they don't want to ever have to use it.

LBC's Political Editor Theo Usherwood spoke to Guy Verhofstadt in Brussels ahead of the EU summit in which Theresa May will ask for additional concessions over her deal.

Asked about whether that will be enough to satisfy the DUP, Mr Verhofstadt said: "We are not negotiating with the DUP, it's with member states.

"What I think will come out of this is a declaration of the 27 on the backstop, saying we don't want to use it and we altogether are of the opinion that this future relationship needs to be so deep, so broad that it is only an insurance and won't be used in practice."

He then went on to say something that Theo believes was trolling the Brexiteers: "If to have a majority in the British parliament, Britain wants to go into a direction of even more close relationship, we have no problem with that."

Watch the interview at the top of the page.