EUROPEAN Council president Donald Tusk has laid into Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage, saying that there is a “special place in hell” for the Leave campaigners who have taken the UK to the brink of Brexit “without even a sketch of a plan”.
Furious Brexiteers hit back, with one describing the European Council president as a "devilish euro maniac".
But in a press conference in Brussels, Tusk also told journalists that as much as he wanted the UK to change its mind, it would not happen as both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were staunch Brexiteers.
“The facts are unmistakable,” he said. “At the moment the pro-Brexit stance of the UK prime minister, and the leader of the opposition, rules out this question.
“Today there is no political force, and no effective leadership, for remain.
“I say this without satisfaction, but you can’t argue with the facts.”
Tusk, who was speaking alongside Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar following talks, said the EU was preparing for the “possible fiasco” of no deal and insisted there would be no “new offer” to the Prime Minister when she comes to Brussels tomorrow seeking changes to the backstop.
He said he hoped May would come to Brussels with a “realistic” plan.
“I hope that tomorrow we will hear from Prime Minister May a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse in which the process of the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU has found itself following the latest votes in the House of Commons.”
Until then, he added, the Irish border issued remained the EU’s top priority.
“The EU is first and foremost a peace project,” he said. “We will not gamble with peace or put a sell-by date on reconciliation. This is why we insist on the backstop.”
May is due to meet Tusk as well as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
Tusk told May if she gave Brussels a “deliverable guarantee for peace in Northern Ireland" the "the UK will leave the EU as a trusted friend”.
He added: "I hope that the UK Government will present ideas that will both respect this point of view and at the same time command a stable and clear majority in the House of Commons.
"I strongly believe that a common solution is possible and I will do everything in my power to find it."
He concluded: "By the way, I have been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan to carry it [out] safely."
DUP MP Sammy Wilson accused Tusk of being a "devilish euro maniac" who was showing "contempt for the 17.4 million people who voted to escape the corruption of the EU and seek the paradise of a free and prosperous Kingdom".
May is in Belfast today meeting with Northern Ireland's political parties.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long expressed her impatience at what she termed the lack of progress in the two years since the UK voted to leave the European Union.
She said she had a "very direct" meeting with the Prime Minister.
"It's very clear from our perspective that the time for reiterating red lines and regurgitating reassurances has long gone," she said.
"What we need now, and the only lines we are interested in, are black and white on paper, an actual deal.
"That is the only thing that is actually going to reassure the public, it is the only thing that is going to reassure business and it is the only thing that is going to reassure those of us in politics who are concerned about what is going to happen next."
She was asked about a report that the Government was considering technological solutions to the border impasse drawn up by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu.
According to a leaked document obtained by the Sun, the system would involve a vehicle tracking system that used GPS and number plate recognition cameras.
Long was highly sceptical of the idea and said the suggestion it could be rolled out in time for Brexit was "absolutely nonsense".
"I sympathise with the person in Fujitsu who wasted an hour on drawing up those plans because that pretty much looks like how much effort went into it," she said.
"It isn't practical, it adds additional cost to business in Northern Ireland, which it can ill afford. It doesn't deal with regulatory checks and with health checks on animals and on other farm goods, so it doesn't answer any of the questions.
"What we now have is a kind of back-of-the-envelope diagram that suggest there is some miraculous technical solution."
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