Johnson, Hunt raise Brexit stakes with Irish border views

LONDON — The two contenders to become Britain’s next prime minister raised the Brexit stakes by saying they will discard a contentious part of the European Union divorce deal agreed by outgoing leader Theresa May. But during a leadership debate Monday, front-runner Boris Johnson rejected “time limits or unilateral escape hatches or all these elaborate devices” and said “the problem is very fundamental.” His rival, Jeremy Hunt, agreed that “the backstop, as it is, is dead.” Britain is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, and the candidates’ stance appeared to heighten the chance of a disruptive “no-deal” Brexit, because EU leaders insist there can be no withdrawal agreement without the backstop. Conservative legislator Simon Hoare, who heads Parliament’s Northern Ireland Committee, said “this is a very, very dangerous step that both men seem to have taken yesterday.” He told Sky News that the consequences of a hard border were “beyond contemplation.” Most economists say that leaving the EU without an agreement would disrupt trade and plunge Britain into recession. Pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve, a key player in ongoing efforts by Parliament to rule out a no-deal exit from the EU, accused the two leadership candidates of giving in to “growing extremism” about Brexit.