Tusk urges UK to stop ‘wasting time’ and solve Irish border issue

THE EU has told the UK to stop “wasting time” and find a solution to the Irish border row, with just two weeks until the next showdown summit over Brexit.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, turned his fire on Jeremy Hunt for likening the EU to the Soviet Union — accusing ministers of rousing the Tory faithful, instead of striving to reach an agreement.

“Unacceptable remarks that raise the temperature will achieve nothing except wasting more time,” Mr Tusk said.

“I was a party leader myself for 15 years, so I know what the rules of party politics are.

“But now, once the Tory conference is over, we should get down to business.”

Speaking alongside Leo Varadkar, the Irish president, Mr Tusk made clear the EU remained “united behind Ireland” in its determination to prevent a return to border posts and checks.

But he also made clear his anger at the delay to Theresa May’s promised fresh border proposals — linking it to a reluctance to risk a backlash at the Tory conference.

On the Irish border, he added: “We will not give up seeking a workable solution that fully respects the Good Friday Agreement as well as the integrity of the single market and the customs union.”

The EU-imposed deadline for progress is the Brussels summit on October 18, although leaders will hope to agree a deal in outline a few days earlier.

The prime minister is preparing to compromise further, apparently by agreeing to keep the entire UK effectively inside the customs union indefinitely, unless and until technology provides a solution.

This would meet her pledge European Council President Donald Tusk, left, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar before their meeting at the EC headquarters in Brussels yesterday. Below, Jeremy Hunt of no customs border down the Irish Sea, which she has argued would see the EU annex Northern Ireland. The other change would leave NI aligned with single market rules, introducing light-touch regulatory checks between Britain and the province.

However, at the Tory conference, Arlene Foster vowed her party would torpedo any such agreement. It is also likely to prove unacceptable to Brexiteers, if it would prevent the UK signing trade deals — even if agreed in Brussels.

Yesterday, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds told the BBC his party will not support a separate “hybrid backstop” economic model for Northern Ireland.

Mr Dodds said the DUP could not accept Northern Ireland being in the EU single market but out of its customs union.

“If the whole of the UK is in both, then that’s fine,” he told the BBC. “If the whole of the UK is out of both, then we must be out of both.”

Mr Dodds said that if “lighttouch regulatory checks” are good enough for the east-west border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, they should be acceptable for the land

border in Ireland.