Juncker says there is “no room whatsoever” to renegotiate Brexit deal

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said that there is “no room whatsoever” for renegotiation in the Brexit Deal UK PM Theresa May reached with EU leaders at the end of November, as she returned to Brussels today to try to reopen talks, The Guardian reports.

Theresa May postponed the House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal as it was clear that British MPs wouldn’t support it due to the controversy surrounding the backstop solution, designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. UK legislators are concerned that the backstop could trap the UK in a customs union without any means of leaving it.

Juncker said that he could offer May some additional “clarifications and interpretations” for the deal, but nothing more, and that he will meet with the PM this evening.

“There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation but of course there is room, if used intelligently, to give further clarifications and interpretations without opening the withdrawal agreement. Everybody has to know the withdrawal agreement will not be reopened,” Juncker stated in the European Parliament.

Brexit minister Martin Callanan said Theresa May was hoping for “additional legal reassurances that the UK cannot be permanently trapped in the Irish backstop.”

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Theresa May is also scheduled to meet with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch PM Mark Rutte on Tuesday.