‘ALL-U.K. CUSTOMS DEAL MERELY SPECULATION’
May’s office refutes report on plan aimed at avoiding need for Irish backstop
AREPORT suggesting an all-United Kingdom Customs deal will be written into the legally binding agreement governing Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union to avoid the need for an Irish backstop is “speculation”, said Prime Minister Theresa May’s office.
The Sunday Times said the plan would avoid the need to treat Northern Ireland differently, which had been the main stumbling bloc to securing an agreement on Britain’s exit from the bloc, due in March next year.
Reuters reported on Friday that the EU had suggested that a backstop post-Brexit Customs arrangement covering all of UK could give mainland Britain some scope to set trade rules while keeping the province of Northern Ireland aligned with the EU.
May’s cabinet would meet tomorrow to discuss her plan, and she hoped there would be enough progress by Friday for the EU to announce a special summit, said The Sunday Times.
Preparations for a final deal were “far more advanced than previously disclosed”, said the report, and would lead to a document of 50 pages or more being published.
Asked about the report, a spokesman at May’s office said: “This is all speculation. The prime minister has been clear that we are making good progress on the future relationship and 95 per cent of the withdrawal agreement is now settled and negotiations are ongoing.”
More than 70 business figures are calling for a public vote on the final terms of Britain’s exit from the EU, warning that the country faces “either a blindfold or a destructive hard Brexit”, the newspaper reported.