May vows no return to hard border

British PM heading to Brussels after trying to ease Brexit fears in Northern Ireland

British Prime Minister Theresa May has told business leaders in Northern Ireland that she is seeking changes to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union, but not the total removal of the Irish border provision that is the most contentious part of the deal.

Seeking to ease fears about the return of customs posts and vehicle checks, May said during a visit to Belfast that the British Government is committed to preventing the construction of a physical border between EU member Ireland and the UK’s Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union.

The Prime Minister said she was in Belfast “to affirm my commitment to delivering a Brexit that ensures no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland — which is unshakable”. She also emphasised the Government’s support for the Good Friday agreement, the 1998 treaty that largely ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as “the Troubles”.

May’s words of reassurance did little to solve her Brexit border dilemma. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but no withdrawal agreement has been approved because Britain’s Parliament voted down May’s plan last month, in part because of concerns about the border plan, known as the backstop. It is a safeguard mechanism that would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks along the border until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

The border area was a flashpoint during the decades of conflict that cost 3700 lives. The free flow of people and goods across the nearinvisible border today underpins both the local economy and Northern Ireland’s peace process.

Many pro-Brexit British lawmakers fear the backstop will trap Britain in regulatory lockstep with the EU, and say they won’t vote for the EU divorce deal unless it is removed. EU leaders insist the withdrawal agreement the bloc struck with May’s Government late last year can’t be reopened.

May plans to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other EU leaders in Brussels tomorrow seeking changes to the backstop, and will return to Parliament next week with — she hopes — a modified plan.