European Council President Donald Tusk says the EU-UK divorce deal is not up for renegotiation after Britain's House of Commons on Tuesday voted to replace the Irish backstop border arrangement contained in it with unspecified "alternative arrangements".
"The Withdrawal agreement is and remains the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union," Tusk said via a spokesman.
"The backstop is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Withdrawal Agreement is not open for renegotiation."
The House of Commons also backed on Tuesday a non-binding amendment to rule out a damaging no-deal Brexit, a move welcomed by Tusk.
"We welcome and share the UK parliament's ambition to avoid a no-deal scenario. We continue to urge the UK government to clarify its intentions with respect to its next steps as soon as possible," Tusk said, in comments agreed with the 27 EU states remaining in the bloc after Brexit.
