Common Travel Area with Ireland will not be affected after Brexit, May declares
IRELAND’S Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom will be retained after Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed yesterday.
Speaking in the House of Commons, she said Britain and Ireland had developed ‘joint principles’ to ensure that the agreement would remain in place.
The Common Travel Area has been in place since 1923, long before the formation of the European Union, and guarantees open borders and travel between the Republic of Ireland and the whole of the United Kingdom.
On Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney told Red FM that he believed retention of the common travel area would be the ‘first big win’ of Brexit.
And yesterday the British PM appeared to confirm that belief.
She said: ‘We’ve made significant progress on Northern Ireland, where it is absolutely imperative that joint work on the peace process is not affected in any way.
‘The Belfast Agreement must be a part of our approach and we have clearly agreed that the unique circumstances across the whole of the island of Ireland will require specific solutions.
‘There will not be any physical infrastructure at the border and we have also developed joint principles to ensure the continuation of the common travel area.’
On Sunday, Mr Coveney had predicted a deal, saying: ‘Ireland and Britain have, since 1923 and Independence, essentially recognised each other’s citizens.
‘They have allowed free movement between the two islands, access to healthcare and social welfare; you can carry your pension entitlements and you can vote in each other’s country.
‘We think we are going to get a deal on that and that it will be protected even post-Brexit.’
Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has denied media reports that Theresa May ‘begged’ for help with Brexit negotiations during a dinner last week.
Reports in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung had cited a source close to Juncker as saying that he found the British Prime Minister ‘anxious, despondent and disheartened’ when they met for dinner in Brussels on Monday of last week.
The report claimed that Ms May had been ‘pleading’ with the EU’s top officials for help in fending off her Conservative rivals and referenced ‘internal party plots to bring her down’.
According to the newspaper, Mr Juncker told his colleagues: ‘May’s face and appearance spoke volumes. She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who can’t sleep a wink.’
However, in an unusual move yesterday, Mr Juncker’s office shot down the report, saying that he ‘would have never used the words attributed to him’.
A spokesman said: ‘Normally, we do not comment on leaks. But today I will. Some people like to point at us to serve their own political agendas, their own political priorities or even to undermine our negotiating position.
‘We would appreciate if these people would leave us alone.
‘We have lots of work and no time for gossip. I have to be very clear that President Juncker would have never used the words attributed to him and never would have said anything like this.’
Furthermore, Mr Juncker himself told the BBC that Mrs May was in good shape when they dined together in Brussels.
Mr Juncker insisted that he had not spoken to the German press about the meeting, adding: ‘I am really surprised – if not shocked – about what has been written in the German press and, of course, repeated by the British press.
‘Nothing is true in all of this. I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting – as is her duty – so everything for me was okay.’
Asked if that meant that Mrs May had not pleaded with him, he replied: ‘No, that’s not the style of British prime ministers.’
The leaks sparked an ugly war of words on Twitter between Mr Juncker’s chief-of-staff, Martin Selmayr, and his former UK counterpart Nick Timothy, who resigned from Ms May’s backroom staff following her disastrous snap election result in June, when the Conservatives lost their overall majority.
Mr Timothy accused Mr Selmayr
‘Progress made on Northern Ireland’ ‘Some in Brussels want no deal’
of being the source of the leaks.
Mr Selmayr responded by calling the story an attempt to ‘frame’ him and to sour relations between Mr Juncker and Mrs May.
Mr Timothy tweeted: ‘After constructive Council meeting, Selmayr does this. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one.’
Mr Selmayr responded: ‘I deny that 1/we leaked this; 2/Juncker ever said this; 3/we are punitive on Brexit. This is false. I know it doesn’t fit your cliché, @NickJTimothy. But @JunckerEU & I have no interest in weakening PM.’
On Friday, European Union leaders moved to speed up talks and spoke of opening a new phase in December. Some said that they understood Mrs May’s difficulties in forging a consensus in London.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has urged both sides to ‘get on with it’ as UK businesses stressed the need for a transitional deal to be agreed as quickly as possible.