Pro-Brexit lawmaker doubts UK PM's success in demanding replacement of Irish backstop

Senior pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker said on Monday he doubted Prime Minister Theresa May will have achieved parliament's demand that the so-called Irish backstop in her Brexit deal be replaced with alternative arrangements. "I very much doubt that's been achieved," Baker told Sky News of May's bid to replace the backstop, an insurance policy to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

"There's deal fever everywhere ... but the truth is we haven't seen a legal text yet." Baker said his pro-Brexit faction of Conservative lawmakers "may or may not" be able to support May's deal in a vote in parliament on Tuesday.