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MADRID, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Brexit minister
Stephen Barclay urged the European Union to show flexibility and
creativity over Brexit on Thursday, saying the Irish backstop
arrangement "has to go" and that Britain was prepared to leave
without a deal if needed.
Barclay was speaking in Madrid just six weeks before the
date on which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take
Britain out of the European Union by Oct. 31 "do or die".
Britain wants a deal but both sides must work to reach one,
Barclay said.
"The prize of a deal should focus the minds of both sides on
this need for creativity and flexibility," he said.
"So let's work creatively to secure a deal, a deal the UK is
committed to get in, a deal without a backstop ... a deal which
indeed will pass both the UK parliament and the European
parliament."
He listed issues with the Irish arrangement which made it
impossible to accept, including the difficulty of guaranteeing
it would be temporary.
"The backstop will not be agreed with the United Kingdom.
The UK parliament has already rejected it three times," he said.
A deal to leave the EU would help manage issues including
the treatment of international business groups like British
Airways and Iberia airlines operator IAG and logistics
around the British territory of Gibraltar, Barclay said.
He added that the conservative government would abide by an
upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the parliament suspension
ordered by Johnson.
Britain's top judicial body, the Supreme Court, is hearing a
third and final day of legal arguments on Thursday over whether
Johnson acted unlawfully when he suspended parliament in the
run-up to Brexit.
Barclay said he will meet EU Brexit negotiator Michel
Barnier on Friday.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie, writing by Jose ElÃas RodrÃguez;
Editing by Ingrid Melander and Raissa Kasolowsky)
International Airlines (IAG)
