EU PRESSES UK TO RESUBMIT BREXIT PLAN AS DEADLINE LOOMS

BRUSSELS: EU and UK officials are to resume talks on Monday on Britain’s plans for a managed Brexit after a weekend hiatus during which London was under pressure to revise its proposals.

The European Commission is adamant that “the UK proposals do not provide a basis for concluding an agreement”, despite the fact that the British government considers the proposals it submitted on Wednesday to be “a fair and reasonable compromise”.

After hours-long talks in Brussels on Friday failed to move the dial, a UK spokesman said: “We want a deal and talks continue on Monday on the basis of our offer.”

But European diplomats emphasise that London needs to offer revised, viable proposals within days and certainly before the end of next week, so any haggling and legalistic work is done before the summit.

Britain’s current idea for an alternative to the Northern Ireland “backstop” - the main sticking point, would see all the UK, or at least Northern Ireland, remaining in the EU’S customs union to remove the need for most but not all border checks, and for EU standards on goods to continue to apply in Northern Ireland to facilitate trade. The border plan is not acceptable for the EU. It sees the potential for rampant smuggling, especially as Johnson intends for the rest of the UK to diverge from EU labour, environmental and tax norms to aim for a regulation-lite economy on Europe’s doorstep.