Proposal receives lukewarm reaction here as clock ticks down to deadline

ALONG way to go and not very long to do it – the progress emerging from Theresa May’s lock-down cabinet meeting on Friday has been met with a lukewarm reaction here in Ireland.

And understandably so – the detail of the vision outlined by the UK on how it can retain partial access to the European single market, in which Britain would sign up to a common rule book for goods, but not services, is unlikely to pass muster in Europe.

The proposal has been touted by the UK as a means to avoid hard borders – including between the Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The so-called ‘backstop’ – a legally binding agreement to facilitate an open Border on Ireland – also features. There is a welcome recognition that a backstop agreement is needed and the UK has agreed to sign up to one, while expressing confidence that it will never be needed under its proposals.

It remains to be seen how firm this commitment will be in the event that a trade agreement acceptable to both sides can be hammered out.

It has taken Mrs May two years to bring her colleagues to a point where their red line on trade could be moved even this far.

It is hard to see how she can win further concessions from them – and with the EU unwilling to separate the pillars of the single market, it is difficult to see how that will be reconciled.

However, the special mention for the protection of the soft Border comes at a time when the Irish question appears to be slipping down the agenda in Europe. At the last EU Council summit, less than an hour was spent on the issue.

For Ireland, the tenor of the agreement is to be welcomed, if only because it signals that the UK is finally willing to come to the table in a meaningful way – two years on from the referendum.

But the consensus is that there is a still a long way to go and time is running out – the final text of a withdrawal agreement is due to be finalised in October.

The Chequers agreement proposes a number of solutions that fly in the face of the EU’s immovable red lines.

While there is a softening of the UK’s position, it has taken a Trojan effort to get there and it remains to be seen whether Brexit Secretary David Davis’s resignation last night will also bring down Mrs May.

There is a sense emerging that the proposal is a fudge that could see years of teasing out of the details on the future relationship between the UK and the EU – and Ireland will suffer more than any other country in the event of a no-deal Brexit.