The top anti-EU lawmaker in the British parliament has softened his position on a controversial clause in the country’s European Union withdrawal agreement as the opposition pushes for a second referendum that could reverse Britain’s decision to leave the bloc.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent member of the ruling Conservative Party, said Wednesday that he would be satisfied if the government returns to the parliament with a Brexit deal next month that could ensure the so-called Irish backstop would be temporary if it is implemented at the end of 2020.
“I can live with the de facto removal of the backstop … I mean that if there is a clear date that says the backstop ends, and that is in the text of the treaty or equivalent of the text of the treaty,” Rees-Mogg said in an interview with the BBC radio.
The backstop is a mechanism to avoid a return of hard borer between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland if the UK and EU…