BACKSTOP TALKS MERSEY MISSION
Leo & Boris bid to broker deal
LEO Varadkar and Boris Johnson will meet in Liverpool today to try to save Brexit negotiations from collapse.
The Taoiseach and PM are holding hastily-arranged talks as the clock ticks down to an increasingly likely no-deal on October 31.
Relations are at a low ebb between the UK and EU after Mr Johnson’s latest plan to break the backstop deadlock was rejected.
Yesterday, Brussels’ chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said it was a non-runner after meeting his British counterparts.
He added: “At this particular point we are not really in a position where we are able to find an agreement.
“The proposal of the British is not
something we can accept.” But Mr Barnier still holds out hope of a deal ahead of next week’s crunch EU Summit meeting in Brussels.
Mr Johnson offered a concession on regulatory alignment for both jurisdictions in Ireland, meaning they’ll both effectively be the one market for goods.
But he is refusing to budge on the customs union and wants the North to remain part of the UK for this.
This will inevitably mean the return of border checks and the EU and Ireland have ruled this out.
In the Dail yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: “I think it is going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly.
“Essentially what the UK has done is repudiate the deal we negotiated in good faith with Prime Minister [Theresa) May’s government and sort of put half of that back on the table and are saying, ‘That’s a concession’. And of course it isn’t really.”