NOW IT’S OVER TO THIS LOT...
EU agrees deal with UK for no Irish border Sources here insist plan protects Ireland But Brexiteers and DUP vent fury
THE future relationship between Ireland and Britain today lies in the hands of 650 British MPs after the EU agreed a Brexit deal with Theresa May.
Ministers here are confident that the agreed deal, including a ‘backstop’ plan, will ensure there cannot be a hard border with the North.
However, the question now facing the two nations is whether Britain’s MPs will accept the proposal – which was greeted with instant hostility by incensed Brexiteer Tories and the DUP.
British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also hinted that his party would oppose the deal, which would significantly raise the likelihood of it being
off, thus increasing the chances of a no-deal Brexit.
If Westminster MPs were to back the deal, it should ensure free trade and free movement between Ireland and Britain despite Brexit: however if they reject it, the most likely result would be a potentially catastrophic no-deal departure.
Such a scenario could see UK flights grounded, tariffs on crossborder trade – and potentially even the return of a border across the North.
Last night, DUP leader Arlene Foster said her party – whose ten MPs are keeping Mrs May in power – would oppose the proposed deal.
‘It would be democratically unacceptable for Northern Ireland trade rules to be set by Brussels. Northern Ireland would have no representation in Brussels and would be dependent on a Dublin government speaking up for our core industries,’ she said.
She said she was ‘heartened’ by the MPs on both sides of the House of Commons who ‘have pledged to stand with the DUP in opposing a deal which weakens the Union and hands control to Brussels rather than parliament’.
Former foreign minister for the UK, Boris Johnson, also said the proposed deal would give the Government here too much say over Northern Ireland.
‘For the first time since partition, Dublin – under these proposals – would have more say in some aspects of the government of Northern Ireland than London,’ Britain’s chief Brexiteer said.
Mr Johnson called on British cabinet ministers to resign over a deal which he said would make the UK a ‘vassal state’ of Brussels.
The Taoiseach has called a Cabinet meeting for 9.30am this morning to consider developments. But ministers are believed to be desperately hoping that Mrs May could get the plan approved.
‘Will Theresa May get it through? That’s the biggest issue,’ a Government source said last night.
But there was admiration for her toughness. ‘She’s rolling the dice anyway,’ the source added.
Under the proposed deal, the EU and UK will form a common customs territory, with extra requirements on the North to align with EU rules in order to ensure a frictionless border.
Crucially, any move by the UK to leave the common customs territory could only take place following a joint review by the EU and UK – and only if both agree to it. This effectively means that the EU could veto any move by the UK to leave the joint customs territory if it believes it could bring the return of a hard border on this island.
‘Any review can only result in a change if the EU and UK both agree to it,’ the Government source added. ‘There can be no unilateral exit.’
This undertaking by the UK means the Government’s ‘major red line’ has remained, the source said.
However, some aspects of the backstop could be changed as part of negotiations on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, which are to begin when Brexit officially begins on March 31 next.
‘If we get a future relationship deal, some elements of the backstop that are no longer needed would be null and void, while those still needed would stand,’ the source told the Mail, emphasising that it would all be done by agreement – with Ireland having to give its consent.
Under the proposed deal, Northern Ireland will remain aligned to the EU for regulatory purposes, including in the area of energy (with an all-island interconnector already working), and sanitary and photosanitary checks in the agriculture sector.
Last night Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee met to examine the detail of the agreed text.
The wording of the deal was not supplied to the DUP, causing anxiety in that party, which warned last Friday that it was prepared to vote against the deal if it threatened any kind of border in the Irish Sea.
Last December when the ‘backstop’ was initially agreed to, the deal was almost torpedoed by the DUP as it was alarmed at the fact that Dublin had received it in advance while it had not been briefed.
Yesterday, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds warned that if reports about the substance of the deal were accurate, his party could not accept it. While a spokesman for the Irish Government declined to confirm the reports yesterday, high-ranking sources confirmed their strategy was to give space to Mrs May to get the deal over the line.
‘We are giving them the space, definitely. The less we say the better at this point,’ the official said.
Opposition parties gave the development a cautious welcome last night, but Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald voiced concerns that this agreement will not be as unshakeakilled ble as the announcement made by Mr Varadkar last December.
‘The Taoiseach assured us that this was a “cast-iron” guarantee. The withdrawal agreement must give legal effect to that “cast-iron” guarantee,’ she said.
‘While we await the publication of this document, it is a matter of concern that some are presenting the backstop agreement as temporary.’
Members of the opposition gave the proposed deal a reserved response last night. Fianna Fail’s Brexit spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said the text’s detail is important.
‘We need to see the text, we need to see exactly what has been agreed, what are the implications for the border issue, for trade,’ she said.
Ms Chambers added that a deal that included the UK staying within the customs union would be the best outcome for Ireland because eastwest trade was ‘so important’.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said any agreement needed to ensure there was ‘a permanent backstop to protect a borderless Ireland’.
The exact detail of the text was shrouded in secrecy last night, with one Irish official in Brussels telling the Mail: ‘Our MEPs will receive the draft text tonight, but they are under strict instructions not to speak to the press about it.’
However, reports on RTÉ suggested that it will be a single backstop that takes the form of a temporary UK-wide customs arrangement, but includes deeper provisions for Northern Ireland on the customs and regulatory side.
This means the idea of having a ‘backstop to the backstop’, one for the UK and one for Northern Ireland, has been abandoned.
Instead it was being described as a ‘hybrid’ backstop, a simplification that has resulted from chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier’s desire to ‘de-dramatise’ the issue.
Last night Mrs May summoned her key ministers one by one to brief them on the text in a bid to shore up their support ahead of today’s crunch cabinet meeting. But a Brexiteer uprising was already in action by the time that had got under way.
‘The less we say the better at this point’