PM May Meets With Ulster Leaders to Sell Changes to Brexit Deal, But No Removal of Backstop

LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to meet with Northern Ireland’s main political parties as she seeks to break the impasse over her European Union divorce deal.

May is signaling she will seek changes to the deal rather than outright removal of the so-called backstop, designed to preserve the open border between Northern Ireland and EU member state Ireland. The border area was a flashpoint during decades of conflict, and the free flow of people and goods across the frontier underpins the region’s peace process.

May, during a speech Tuesday in Belfast, restated her “unshakeable” commitment to avoiding a hard border and said she didn’t plan to remove the “insurance policy” entirely.

“What Parliament has said is that they believe there should be changes made to the backstop,” she said.