A typical EU compromise looms large

PARLIAMENT reassembling on Tuesday will herald the start of a fascinating two-month period in the history of the country.

Boris Johnson is clear that Britain will not be building custom posts along the Ulster border under any circumstances, which places the responsibility solely in the European court.

He is emphatic that there are other means – it remains to be seen whether Brussels will go it alone.

However, despite all the rhetoric as our Prime Minister visited Berlin and Paris last week, I detected doors slightly ajar, certainly from Mrs Merkel and just a crack from Mr Macron.

German industry is most unhappy about the state of affairs for they foresee burgeoning costs being applied to their products.

Despite the shrugged shoulders of some Euro politicians, world trade is not to too brisk right now, so any cutback would be most unhelpful.

So September is likely to be crunch month as politicians on all sides continue to grapple with the complexities of the United Kingdom leaving the club.

Brussels has yet to come to terms with the fact that they are losing the substantial UK contribution to their budget.

No mention has been made of belt-tightening, other than an idea being floated that the remaining members would have to increase their contributions.

Finland in particular ruled out such a suggestion and there were no supportive comments from any of the others.

Only nine member countries are net contributors, which means that French and German taxpayers in particular will have to fork out more, not that there has ever been much effort to balance EEC books.

Signing off the accounts has always been a bit of a grey area.

Boris is adamant that we will leave on October 31 but then again, the Government seems to be giving all the indications that if necessary, they are ready for a General Election, which might delay matters. We, the electorate, are about to observe history.

My guess is that we will leave on time, and that in the best traditions of the EEC, a compromise will be crafted.

Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings

firm AE Harris