Border still stalling Brexit deal

LONDON: A Brexit deal is close but not yet done due to differences over the Irish border, Britain and the European Union said yesterday as the British pound seesawed on contrasting perceptions of how hard it will be for Prime Minister Theresa May to clinch an agreement.

‘‘We are still not at the 100%,’’ European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier said.

‘‘What is missing is a solution for the issue of Ireland.’’

Britain and the EU both want to keep the border between EUmember Ireland and Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, open after Brexit

It is seen as crucial to the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that ended decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

While final arrangements on the border are due to be agreed as part of later trade talks, a backstop arrangement in case such talks fail is proving tricky. Britain’s desire to leave the customs union is not easily reconciled with preserving the integrity of the EU’s single market.

Barnier said that the EU was working to improve its offer for the socalled backstop, or an emergency fix to keep the Irish border open regardless of Brexit consequences, but that it must be workable.

London wants the backstop to be provisional rather than permanent, while the EU resists any suggestion it could expire. Barnier said the backstop can have no enddate.

He cautioned that without a deal that prevents a hard border in Ireland, Britain will leave the EU in less than five months without a transition period.

May told her Cabinet more work was needed on the Irish backstop, and that while the withdrawal agreement was 95% complete, Northern Ireland was by far the main issue outstanding.