EU parliament won't approve Brexit deal without Irish "backstop" -statement

The European Parliament's Brexit group said on Thursday it would not approve an agreement on Britain's departure from the European Union that did not contain a "backstop" provision to avoid a hard Irish border.

The parliament's Brexit Steering Group, chaired by Guy Verhofstadt, "reiterated that the withdrawal agreement is fair and cannot be re-negotiated. This applies especially to the backstop ... without such an 'all-weather' backstop-insurance, the European Parliament will not give its consent to the withdrawal agreement." (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Robin Emmott)