‘Proposal by the European Commision is unacceptable’
of the 2020 implementation period. He told journalists: “I said to the Prime Minister that any move that helped to align all of the EU and the UK in terms of customs into the future would be beneficial.
“It would help solve some of the problems related to the border but not all of them. It would certainly help us continue to trade between Britain and Ireland much as we do now.” He said he was “not discouraged” when Mrs May “verbally and conceptually” outlined her thinking.
After a meeting with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Mrs May said she would shortly present her own proposal on the “backstop” solution to the Irish border issue.
A No10 spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to the joint report agreed in December. She said the proposal put forward by the European Commission in relation to the Ireland and Northern Ireland border was unacceptable.”
No10 denied reports that Britain will tell the European Union it is prepared to stay tied to the Customs Union beyond 2020 as a last resort to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Downing Street sources insisted “there was not a proposal discussed or agreed that would see us staying in the customs union beyond the implementation period”, which is OUR country has a strong future outside the European Union but we can only reap the full benefits by leaving the Customs Union.
The referendum result gave a clear instruction from the public to remove the UK from all of the EU’s political institutions.
So two years on, Daily Express readers and the public are wondering why on earth so many of our politicians are dithering.
Instead of focusing on getting out of the EU, too many politicians are allowing themselves to get bogged down in arguments about the Customs Union and hanging on to the hope this will keep Britain in the EU.
But by trying to keep Britain in the Customs Union and under EU control they are blocking Britain’s due to expire at the end of 2020. Arriving at the EU Western Balkans summit, Mrs May denied climbing down over membership of the Customs Union.
She said: “No, we are not [climbing down]. The United Kingdom will be leaving the Customs Union, we are leaving the European Union.
“Of course, we will be negotiating future customs arrangements with the European Union and I have set three objectives. We need to be able to have our own independent trade policy; we want as frictionless a border as possible between the UK and the EU so that trade can continue; and we want to ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
Leading Brexiteer and Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg warned that the solution of staying even longer in a Customs Union would be unacceptable.
He said: “The risk of the Government using all its mental energy on the fallback position is that it creates a position that is more attractive than a permanent deal.
“We have now gone from a clear end point to an extension, to a proposed further extension with no end point.
“The horizon seems almost unreachable, the bottom of the rainbow seems to be unattainable.
“People voted to leave. They did not vote for purgatory.”