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BRITAIN-EU-POLITICS
UK and EU close to Brexit deal over Irish border: report
LONDON, Nov 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Britain would remain in a temporary customs
union with the EU, avoiding a hard Irish border, as part of a new deal being
thrashed out between London and Brussels, according to a Sunday Times report.
Senior sources told the paper that Prime Minister Theresa May has secured
concessions from Brussels, with the EU agreeing to write an “all-UK” customs
union into the divorce deal.
This would avoid the EU’s “backstop” solution that would have treated
Northern Ireland differently from the rest of Britain.
There will be an “exit clause” from the customs union in a bid to convince
Brexiteers that it is not a permanent arrangement as May looks to secure
enough votes to get the deal through parliament, added the paper.
May’s spokesman refused to confirm the report, calling it “speculation”,
according to Sky News.
The Irish border has proved the biggest obstacle to a deal, with both sides
vowing not to reinstate a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland
for fear of destabilising the peace accord that ended decades of deadly
sectarian violence.
Under the agreed deal, the EU accepts that regulatory checks on goods can
be carried out in factories and shops rather than at the border, the Sunday
Times said.
The deal keeps open the possibility of Britain securing a future free trade
agreement similar to the one signed between Canada and the EU in 2016.
The opposition Labour party has all but ruled out supporting any deal May
reaches with Brussels, leaving the prime minister reliant on her slender
parliamentary majority that comprises her own divided MPs and coalition
partners the Democratic Unionist Party.
She is expected to warn her most stridently anti-EU MPs that they will be
held responsible for the consequences of a no-deal Brexit if they do not vote
for her deal.
However, if these Brexiteers are not convinced that the customs union is
only a temporary measure they would almost certainly rebel.
Her cabinet is due to hold talks over the plan on Monday, with a potential
EU summit pencilled in for the end of November, if they agree enough progress
has been made.
Parliament would then vote on the deal in December.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0910 hrs