Breaking the ice

NI is in the grip of a cold snap... but elsewhere temperatures thawed enough for a Brexit deal with something for everyone

AMBIGUITY surrounds the Government’s last-minute deal with the EU, but supporters hailed its vague language as its greatest strength and said it allowed movement to Phase 2 trade talks by offering something for everyone.

The DUP claimed it has seas cured vital concessions, but others insisted the door was still open for special status for Northern Ireland.

Business leaders welcomed the commitment to no hard border but called for the details to be swiftly hammered out.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Irish government had achieved all its goals and described the border assurances “politically bullet-proof ”.

Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, DUP leader Arlene Foster said the concessions the DUP had secured from Theresa May left “Northern Ireland in a stronger position than it was five days ago”.

“It is now clear in the EUUK agreement that we will leave the EU along with the rest of the UK and there will be no border in the Irish Sea,” she writes, and explains that Northern Ireland would leave the single market and the customs union, and wouldn’t be “separated constitutionally, politically, economically or regulatory” from Britain.

However, yesterday European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker issued words of caution, warning that there is still much work to be done.