Dutch PM Mark Rutte tells me: 'This idea in UK Parliament they’ll get stuck in backstop for 30/40/50 years is absolutely not necessary. Nobody in his right mind would want the backstop.' Adds he's 'confident May now has all the arguments necessary to get it through parliament'.
Rutte denies suggestions May was too vague during talks with EU leaders last night: 'She was very clear, very open about what she wants from us and we put it on paper' [in the EU27 summit conclusions].
Rutte also suggested to me PM may need to forgo festive R&R: 'She'll no doubt during Xmas think about how to create that next stage of a new relationship and what the UK can do to really get kickstarting the whole discussion, of which part will be how to prevent the backstop.'
