Foster to collapse UK government if North given ‘special’ status
‘Customs partnership’
ARLENE Foster has threatened to collapse the British government if it adopts a Brexit deal that treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK.
The Democratic Unionist Party leader warned that customs parity with Britain was a ‘red line’ for her party, whose ten MPs support the Conservatives in Westminster under a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement.
Ms Foster is adamant she does not want the North to be part of a separate deal with the EU, as the Irish Government has suggested.
Yesterday, she said the DUP will ‘simply not be able’ to support the Tories any longer if they make the North a special case.
British cabinet ministers are currently examining potential solutions to the border issue. One idea reportedly proposed by Brexit Secretary David Davis – and dismissed by Downing Street – would see Northern Ireland covered by a joint regime of UK and EU customs regulations, allowing it to trade freely with both, plus a ten-mile wide ‘special economic zone’ on the border.
Ms Foster told Sky News yesterday: ‘For us, our only red line is that we are not treated any different from the rest of the UK, that there are no trade barriers put up between Northern Ireland and our biggest market which, of course, is Great Britain.
‘That’s [how] we will judge all of the propositions that are brought forward. We will judge it against that red line and [Theresa May] is very much aware of that. I have confidence that she knows that she cannot bring forward anything that will breach that red line or we simply will not be able to support them.’
British ministers were last month tasked with analysing the two main options so far put forward for the border: a ‘customs partnership’ proposal that would see Britain collect tariffs on behalf of the EU, and the technology-based ‘maximum facilitation’ (‘max fac’) solution. Mr Davis’ idea was dubbed ‘max fac 2’.
Brussels has rejected both schemes, with chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier saying on Friday that neither was ‘operational or acceptable’.
EU leaders, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, have called for progress by the time the European Council meets at the end of this month, with Tánaiste Simon Coveney on Saturday also saying the UK must produce ‘written proposals’ for the border within the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, British ministers yesterday moved to dismiss reports that civil servants have been drawing up scenarios for a ‘Doomsday Brexit’ that would leave the UK short of medicine, fuel and food.
The Sunday Times said models for mild, severe and ‘Armageddon’ reactions to nodeal exits were created, with a source saying even the severe scenario saw the port of Dover ‘collapse on day one’.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I have to say I don’t recognise any bit of that at all and as Home Secretary... I am deeply involved in no-deal preparations as much as I am in getting a deal – I’m confident we will get a deal.’