Brexit talks hit ‘significant problem’ over Irish border
The Brexit talks have run into a “significant problem” over the fraught issue of the Northern Ireland border, Government sources have said.
Negotiations are on a knife-edge after a hastily-arranged meeting on Sunday between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab broke up without a breakthrough.
Discussions were said to have broken down after EU negotiators demanded a “backstop to the backstop” to prevent a return of a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Theresa May has proposed the backstop – which would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market while a permanent solution is found – should apply to the whole of the UK.
We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations.
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018
However it is understood the EU is insisting it should be backed up by the original Northern Ireland-only backstop as it first proposed.
That could lead to customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK – effectively imposing a “border in the Irish Sea” – something Mrs May has said is unacceptable.
The impasse threatens to throw into disarray carefully choreographed plans which would have seen EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Wednesday give the green light to a special summit in November to finalise the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc.
